Fabrication of novel heterostructured few layered WS2-Bi2WO6/Bi3.84W0.16O6.24 composites with enhanced photocatalytic performance

Novel heterostructured composite of few layered WS2-Bi2WO6/Bi3.84W0.16O6.24 has been synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method for the first time. The obtained catalysts were systematically characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), SEM, TEM, EDS, Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to certify the existence of WS2 with a few-layered structure among the heterostructured composite, and to illuminate the relationship of its performance and the structural features. Among the as-prepared catalysts, the few layered WS2-Bi2WO6/Bi3.84W0.16O6.24 composite show the best photocatalytic degradation of RhB under visible light irradiation. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of the heterostructured few layered WS2-Bi2WO6/Bi3.84W0.16O6.24 composite is attributed to the two-dimensional structure of WS2 with special properties and the matching energy band structure for efficient separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. The formation mechanism and photocatalytic mechanism were proposed. The present work firstly combined layered TMDs with composites to prepare ternary heterostructured catalysts, which provide new ideas for obtaining novel layered TMDs-based composites with excellent performance. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.