One-step hydrothermal synthesis of peony-like Ag/Bi2WO6 as efficient visible light-driven photocatalyst toward organic pollutants degradation

Here, we report a simple approach to fabricate 3D hierarchical peony-like Ag/Bi2WO6 hybrid photocatalyst through one-step hydrothermal method with l-leucine as a template. The morphology and structure of the resultant materials were characterized by various analytical methods, such as X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectra. The photocatalytic performance of Bi2WO6 and Ag/Bi2WO6 samples was evaluated by degrading organic dye and antibiotic in water under visible light irradiation. A series of results indicated that loaded Ag nanoparticles significantly improve the photocatalytic activity of Bi2WO6. In addition, the possible mechanism was proposed that the enhanced photocatalytic activity was resulted from the unique configuration of peony-like morphology that favorable for the adsorption of organic compounds and the high Schottky barriers between interface of Ag NPs and Bi2WO6, which promoted the transfer of photogenerated electrons from Bi2WO6 to Ag NPs. Meanwhile, noble metal Ag can induce surface plasmon resonance leading to the better visible light absorption of Bi2WO6.