Construction of S-scheme heterojunction by doping Bi2WO6 into Bi2O3 for efficiently enhanced visible-light photocatalytic performance

The objective of this study was to construct the S-scheme Bi 2 WO 6 / α- Bi 2 O 3 heterojunctions with high enhanced visible-light photocatalytic performance. The composites loaded various Bi 2 WO 6 mass ratios were prepared by a ball grinding method. The characterization and reaction mechanism of photocatalysts were explored in detail. Remarkably, the results demonstrated that the Bi 2 WO 6 / α- Bi 2 O 3 presented an outstandingly superior performance for photodegradation of nitrobenzene. Among them, the 10%Bi 2 WO 6 / α- Bi 2 O 3 possessed the best photocatalytic property, and it could reach up to 95.7% in 50 min with the top rate constant of 0.06178 min −1 , which was 4.3 and 3.6 times that of bare Bi 2 O 3 and Bi 2 WO 6 , respectively. Simultaneously, the Bi 2 WO 6 / α- Bi 2 O 3 was well stable after five cycling experiments. The efficiently improved photocatalytic performance was primarily attributed to the formation of S-scheme structure between Bi 2 WO 6 and α- Bi 2 O 3 , which enhanced the conspicuous separating efficiency of photogenerated carriers. The present study not only offers a method to solve the unsatisfactory activity of Bi 2 O 3 , but also provides some insights into the design of other novel S-scheme composites with great potential application in clean energy and environmental remediation. Graphical abstract The efficiently improved photocatalytic performance was primarily attributed to the formation of S-scheme structure between Bi 2 WO 6 and α- Bi 2 O 3 , which enhanced the conspicuous separating efficiency of photogenerated carriers.