Enhancement of visible-light photocatalytic activity of silver and mesoporous carbon co-modified Bi2WO6

Ordered mesoporous carbon CMK-3 was prepared by hard template method using SBA-15 as template, sucrose as carbon source. Flower/sphere-like Bi2WO6 and CMK-3/Bi2WO6 photocatalysts were synthesized by hydrothermal method, and then Ag/Bi2WO6 and Ag/Bi2WO6/CMK-3 composite photocatalysts were prepared via a photoreduction process. The samples were characterized by XRD, UV-vis, TEM (HR-TEM), SEM, N-2 physical adsorption and PL and their photocatalytic activities were evaluated by the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. The results show that both incorporating of CMK-3 and Ag loading greatly improved the photocatalytic activity of Bi2WO6, and the content of CMK-3 and silver have an impact on the photocatalytic activity of Bi2WO6. The photocatalytic activity of Ag/Bi2WO6/CMK-3 photocatalyst is superior to the activities of CMK-3/Bi2WO6 and Ag/Bi2WO6 under comparable conditions, and Ag/Bi2WO6/CMK-3 photocatalyst has high stability and is easy to be recycled. Also, the mechanism for the enhancement of the photocatalytic activity of CMK-3 and Ag co-modified Bi2WO6 was also investigated. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.