Enhanced photocatalytic degradation performance of Bi2WO6 via O3 modification

Bi 2 WO 6 with enhanced photocatlytic degradation performance was successfully synthesized by a facile O 3 etching method. The photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectra. Characterization results revealed that the O 3 treated Bi 2 WO 6 photocatalyst has abundant of oxygen vacancies, which could effectively restrain recombination of photon-generated carriers, broaden light absorption region, serve as pho- tocatalytic reaction center. Moreover, the photocatalytic activities of the prepared photocatalysts were evaluated by the photocatalytic degradation of benzidine under a xenon lamp irradiation. The photocatalytic activity of treated Bi 2 WO 6 photocatalyst samples with O 3 pose a greater improvement. Among that, the O 3 -Bi 2 WO 6 -3-4 modifying with ozone flux of 3.0 L/min for 4 h photocatalytic degradation of benzidine wastewater reached ~76.0% in 180 min under the irradiation of xenon lamp light (λ = 420 nm), which is about ~2.1 times higher than that of pure Bi 2 WO 6 . Moreover, the photocatalytic activities of the modified Bi 2 WO 6 via O 3 exhibit without significantly decrease after four cycles, indicating that the photocatalyst has a favourable application prospect.