Abstract
Photocatalytic oxidation is considered to be the most energy-efficient, environment-friendly and effective strategy to degrade low fraction organic contaminants. Hence, a range of black-TiO2/Bi2WO6 (BTB) composites containing metallic Bi and oxygen vacancies (OVs) were designed with the assist of reducing atmospheres (NH3, N2 and H2). The BTB-N2 gave the maximal toluene oxidation efficiency of 92.4 % within 120 min under visible light, which was significantly higher than that of other BTB materials. A synergistic effect of Z-type heterostructure, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of metallic Bi, along with OVs engineering contributed to the outstanding photooxidation performance of BTB-N2. The establishment of Z-type heterostructure facilitated the charge separation with maintaining original redox properties of both semiconductors. Additionally, the proper concentration of metallic Bi and OVs in BTB-N2 could also promote charge separation and transportation, as well as offer more active sites for the adsorption and activation of reactant molecules in the toluene oxidation process. The in-situ infrared measurements revealed that BTB-N2 promoted the benzene ring opening, leading to the swifter transfer of adsorbed toluene and intermediates in comparison to BTB-Air. This work presented a new perspective to design highly effective Z-type photocatalysts for environmental remediation.
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