Low-temperature synthesis and visible light-driven photocatalytic activity of Bi₆Ti₃WO₁₈nanosheet photocatalyst

A new Bi6Ti3WO18(BTW) photocatalyst has been prepared by a pechini-type glacial acetic acid complex method. The photocatalytic activities of the samples were evaluated by the degradation of rhodamine B under visible light irradiation. Results indicated that BTW samples showed the high photocatalytic performances. It was found that the optimal BTW was obtained at 600 °C. Notably, the samples prepared by our method exhibited a superior photocatalytic activity compared with the counterpart prepared by a solid state reaction. Furthermore, the morphologies, the photoabsorption performances and the photoelectrochemical features of the samples have been investigated to clarify the reasons for the differences of the photocatalytic activities between these two samples. The active species in the photocatalytic reaction process were also detected. Finally, a probable photocatalytic mechanism of the photodegradation of RhB has been proposed.