Sonochemical assisted impregnation of Bi2WO6 on TiO2 nanorod to form Z-scheme heterojunction for enhanced photocatalytic H2 production

In this work, Bi2WO6/TiO2 nanorod heterojunction was prepared by sonochemical assisted impregnation method. After loading 2 wt% Bi2WO6 on TiO2 nanorods, the photocatalytic hydrogen production rate of 2026 mmol/h/g was achieved. Compared to commercial P25 and TiO2 nanorods, similar to 13 and similar to 3 folds enhanced activity was observed. The excellent photocatalytic performance of Bi2WO6/TiO2 nanorod pho-tocatalyst was mainly attributed to i) reduction of bandgap due to heterojunction formation, ii) quick transport of photogenerated charge carriers, and iii) efficient charge carrier separation supported by UV-DRS, photocurrent measurement, Impedance study, and photoluminescence spectra analysis. The Z-scheme band alignment for Bi2WO6/TiO2 nanorod heterojunction was proposed based on the Mott-Schottky measurement. This result demonstrated the effective utilization of Z-scheme heterojunction of Bi2WO6/TiO2 for photocatalytic reduction application. (C) 2021 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this study, a Bi2WO6/TiO2 nanorod heterojunction was prepared, achieving a high photocatalytic hydrogen production rate. The excellent performance was attributed to mechanisms such as reduction of bandgap, quick transport of charge carriers, and efficient charge carrier separation. The Z-scheme band alignment proposed for the heterojunction demonstrated effective utilization for photocatalytic reduction applications.