Synthesis of Yb3+/Er3+ co-doped Bi2WO6 nanosheets with enhanced photocatalytic activity

Abstract

Bi2WO6 has attracted much attention as a visible-light-driven photocatalyst, but its photocatalytic activity should be further improved for future practical application. Herein, we prepared Yb3+/Er3+ co-doped Bi2WO6 (Yb3+/Er3+-Bi2WO6) by a facile hydrothermal route followed by a calcination process. Yb3+/Er3+-Bi2WO6 sample consisted of two dimensional nanosheets with the thickness of about 50nm and length of 1–2μm. Under visible light irradiation (λ>400nm), Yb3+/Er3+-Bi2WO6 exhibited higher photocatalytic degradation efficiency (99.5%) for Rhodamine B than Er3+ doped Bi2WO6 (86.0%) and pure Bi2WO6 (14.7%) in 20min. Furthermore, after four photodegradation cycles, there was no significant loss for the photocatalytic activity of the nanosheets. Therefore, Yb3+/Er3+-Bi2WO6 nanosheets can be used as an efficient and stable VLD photocatalyst.