Effect of iron loading on the photocatalytic performance of Bi2WO6 photocatalyst

• Main Authors: Sriwichai,S., Ranwongsa,H., Wetchakun,K., Phanichphant,S., Wetchakun,N.
• Format: Article
• Published: Academic Press Inc. 2015
• Subjects: Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Materials Science (all); Condensed Matter Physics
• Online Access: http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=84910136329&origin=inward; http://cmuir.cmu.ac.th/handle/6653943832/38801
• Institution: Chiang Mai University

© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Pure Bi2WO6 and nominal 0.1-2.0 mol% Fe-loaded Bi2WO6 samples were synthesized by hydrothermal method. All samples were characterized in order to obtain the correlation between structure and photocatalytic properties by X-ray diffraction, UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry, Brunauer, Emmett and Teller-specific surface area, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy. Photocatalytic activities of all photocatalyst samples were examined by studying the degradation of methylene blue under visible light irradiation. The 0.5 mol% Fe-loaded Bi2WO6 had the best activity in photodegradation of MB in aqueous solution under visible light irradiation. The high performance of Fe-loaded Bi2WO6 could be attributed to the fact that the Fe ions could act as electron traps promoting the electron-hole separation then enhancing the photocatalytic reaction.