A low-cost visible light activeBiFeWO6/TiO2 nanocompositewith an efficient photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical performance

Herein, visible-light driven BiFeWO6/TiO2 nanocomposites photocatalysts were successfully synthesized by an incipient wet-impregnation method. The as-synthesized BiFeWO6/TiO2 nanocomposites were explored by using various techniques of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, UV-vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy (DRS), photoluminescence (PL), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and photoelectrochemical (PEC) studies to investigate the material formation, surface morphology, electrochemical and optical behaviors. Furthermore, the photocatalytic efficiency of fabricated BiFeWO6/TiO2 nanocomposites was also evaluated towards the degradation of acid orange 7 (AO7). From the degradation results, it revealed that 1% BiFeWO6/TiO2 nanocomposite demonstrated superior photocatalytic performance than its comparison with pure components. This optimized 1% BiFeWO6/TiO2 nanocomposite was found to achieve complete degradation of AO7 within 60 min and also it showing a rate constant value of 0.054 min(-1) which is much superior to the pure TiO2. This improvement might be credited to its strong light absorption ability in a visible-light region and the low recombination rate of hole-electron pairs. Also, the BiFeWO6/TiO2 nanocomposite has an exceptional photostability and reusability character along with an excellent photo-electrochemical activity. Therefore, it can be well useful material for removing organic pollutants in the aqueous environment. Finally, a probable mechanism is suggested for the photodegradation of AO7 over as-synthesized BiFeWO6/TiO2 nanocomposite material.