One-pot synthesis of bismuth-containing multicomponent photocatalyst Ag-BWV-y towards efficient H2 generation

Abstract

The bismuth-containing semiconductors have emerged as promising materials for the degradation of organic pollutants and reduction of CO2. However, their potential applications in photocatalytic H2 generation have not been explored clearly. Herein, bismuth-containing multicomponent photocatalyst Ag-BWV-y (where y represents the moles of Ag+ in the initial reaction system) has been synthesized by a simple one-pot chemical method for photocatalytic H2 generation. The element Ag is homogeneously distributed in as-prepared nanocomposite, and the band structure of Ag-BWV-y can be tuned by the dosage of Ag+ ions. The optimized photocatalyst Ag-BWV-y (y = 0.15) shows a maximum H2 evolution rate of 652 μmol h−1 g−1, which is about 5.6-fold that of undoped sample. The narrow band gap of Ag-BVW-0.15 favors the photocatalytic activity in promoting H2 production.