Preparation and photocatalytic activity of HC/BiOBr/Bi2WO6 microspheres

HC/BiOBr/Bi2WO6 microspheres are synthesized by solvothermal method. The crystal structure, morphology and optical properties of the photocatalyst are investigated by XRD, SEM, BET, UV-Vis DRS and PL. SEM shows that HC/BiOBr/Bi2WO6 is composed of a spherical structure made of stacked nanosheets. The photocatalytic activity of HC/BiOBr/Bi2WO6 microspheres can be evaluated by photodegradation of rhodamine B (RhB), methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. The results show that the photocatalytic activity of HC/BiOBr/Bi2WO6 is significantly higher than that of single phase BiOBr or Bi2WO6. In addition, HC/BiOBr/Bi2WO6 photocatalyst also has good photostability and recyclability. After irradiation with 7 W-LED for 180 min, the photodegradation efficiency of HC/BiOBr/Bi2WO6 microspheres to 10 mg/L RhB is 98.91%, which is still 70.47% after 4 cycles of degradation. HC/BiOBr/Bi2WO6 microspheres have excellent photocatalytic activity, which is mainly attributed to the improvement of light absorption capacity and the reduction of electron hole pair recombination rate.