Photocatalytic activity enhancement of Bi2WO6 nanoparticles by Gd-doping via microwave assisted method

Abstract

Gd-doped Bi2WO6 nanoparticles were successfully prepared through microwave assisted synthesis. The incorporation of Gd3+ ions into Bi2WO6 crystallite was analyzed by X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The optical properties of the nanoparticles were characterized by UV-Vis absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of the nanoparticleswas investigated by degradation of Rhodamine B under visible-light irradiation. Our results showed that Gd-doping plays an important role for enhancing the visible light photocatalytic activity, and the enhanced photocatalytic activity of Gd-doped Bi2WO6 nanoparticles would be mainly correlated with the effective decrease of recombination rate of photogenerated electron-hole pairs.