Study on photocatalytic degradation of amoxicillin in wastewater by Bi2WO6/nano-ZnO

A novel Bi2WO6/nano-ZnO hybrid material was synthesized by a simple two-step hydrothermal method for photocatalytic degradation of amoxicillin in wastewater under visible light. The material is a hybrid of nanosheets and like layered structure composed of many nanosheets. Compared with the pure Bi2WO6 and nano-ZnO, the photocatalytic activity of the photocatalytic materials Bi2WO6/nano-ZnO was significantly improved, and the Bi2WO6/nano-ZnO (molar ratio of Bi2WO6 and nano-ZnO: 1:3) sample had the highest photocatalytic activity for amoxicillin. It has been found that the improvement of photocatalytic activity is attributed to the reduction of band gap energy caused by the heterostructure formed by the two semiconductors, which can effectively separate the photo generated carriers and inhibit the recombination of photo generated charge carriers.

Automated summary

A novel Bi2WO6/nano-ZnO hybrid material was synthesized using a simple two-step hydrothermal method for photocatalytic degradation of amoxicillin in wastewater under visible light. The hybrid material, composed of many nanosheets in a layered structure, exhibited significantly improved photocatalytic activity compared to pure Bi2WO6 and nano-ZnO, with the Bi2WO6/nano-ZnO sample at a molar ratio of 1:3 showing the highest activity. The enhancement in photocatalytic activity is attributed to the reduction of band gap energy caused by the heterostructure formed by the two semiconductors, enabling effective separation and inhibition of recombination of photo generated charge carriers.