Solvothermal synthesis of Bi2WO6 hollow structures with excellent visible-light photocatalytic properties

Bi2WO6 hollow structures consisting of nanoparticles with diameters of 10-20 nm were synthesized by a facile and reproducible solvothermal method in the presence of ethylene glycol. The obtained Bi2WO6 hollow structures exhibit higher photocatalytic activity towards the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible-light irradiation, up to 99% within 40 min, which was much higher than P25-TiO2. The enhanced photocatalytic performance could be attributed to their tiny building blocks as well as high BET surface areas (65.04 m(2) g(-1)). The obtained Bi2WO6 hollow structures are chemically stable, and the efficiency remained almost the same after recycled five times, suggesting that Bi2WO6 hollow structures are promising visible-light photocatalyst for practical applications. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.