One-pot synthesis of bismuth-containing multicomponent photocatalyst Ag-BWV-y towards efficient H2 generation

The bismuth-containing semiconductors have emerged as promising materials for the degradation of organic pollutants and reduction of CO 2 . However, their potential applications in photocatalytic H 2 generation have not been explored clearly. Herein, bismuth-containing multicomponent photocatalyst Ag-BWV-y (where y represents the moles of Ag + in the initial reaction system) has been synthesized by a simple one-pot chemical method for photocatalytic H 2 generation. The element Ag is homogeneously distributed in as-prepared nanocomposite, and the band structure of Ag-BWV-y can be tuned by the dosage of Ag + ions. The optimized photocatalyst Ag-BWV-y (y = 0.15) shows a maximum H 2 evolution rate of 652 μmol h −1 g −1 , which is about 5.6-fold that of undoped sample. The narrow band gap of Ag-BVW-0.15 favors the photocatalytic activity in promoting H 2 production.