Enhanced photocatalytic performance by hybridization of BiWO nanoparticles with honeycomb-like porous carbon skeleton.

In this work, we have assembled BiWO nanoparticles on the surface of honeycomb-like porous carbon skeleton (PCS) via a hydrothermal route to achieve a new type of PCS@BiWO hybrid composite photocatalysts. The PCS@BiWO hybrid structures are determined by SEM, TEM and XPS characterizations. UV-vis DRS investigation suggests an enhanced visible-light absorption of the PCS@BiWO composites. Transient photocurrent response, EIS and PL spectroscopy characterizations demonstrate that the composites exhibit an efficient separation of photoproduced electron/hole pairs. The photocatalytic performance of the composites were evaluated by using RhB as the model pollutant and simulated sunlight as the light source. It is revealed that the PCS@BiWO hybrid composites manifest much enhanced photocatalytic performance. The 5 wt%PCS@BiWO composite manifests the highest photocatalytic activity, which is ca. 2.1 times as large as that of bare BiWO nanoparticles. This can be mainly ascribed to two factors: (1) The photogenerated electron/hole pairs in BiWO are efficiently separated due to the electron transfer between BiWO and PCS; and (2) PCS induces enhanced visible-light absorption and the visible-light-excited electrons in PCS could also take part in the photocatalytic reactions.