Novel high-efficiency visible-light-driven p-n heterojunction β-Bi2O3/Ag2WO4 photocatalysts

In this work, novel visible-light responsive β-Bi 2 O 3 /Ag 2 WO 4 p-n heterojunction photocatalysts were prepared by a simple in situ deposition method and characterized using XRD, FT-IR, SEM, TEM, XPS, UV–vis and PL. The uniform deposition of Ag 2 WO 4 particles on β-Bi 2 O 3 flakes to form heterojunctions, exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light in 30 min. Compared with pure β-Bi 2 O 3 and Ag 2 WO 4 samples, the kinetic reaction rate constant of MB degradation by β-Bi 2 O 3 /Ag 2 WO 4 was 48.47 times higher than that of β-Bi 2 O 3 , and the degradation rate was as high as 98.8% with good cycling stability.