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Optimized h‐BN/Sb 2 WO 6 Interface Mediates an Efficient Charge Separation towards Enhanced Photocatalysis
Author(s) -
Rafiq Umer,
Wahid Malik,
Majid Kowsar
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
chemistryselect
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 34
ISSN - 2365-6549
DOI - 10.1002/slct.202002981
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , rhodamine b , catalysis , materials science , degradation (telecommunications) , radical , photochemistry , composite number , scavenger , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , chemistry , composite material , organic chemistry , telecommunications , computer science , engineering
The unrestrained charge recombination inherently associated with inorganic semiconductors renders them inefficient for the targeted photocatalytic applications in their pristine state. A variety of compositing strategies have thus become important to mitigate the charge recombinations in this regard. In the present work, we report a modified solvothermal synthesis route to affect the synthesis of appropriately band‐aligned h‐BN/Sb 2 WO 6 nano‐composite. The later offers improved photocatalytic efficiency owing to reduced electron‐hole recombination ensured through the intimate interfacial contact ascribed to the modified synthesis strategy. The most efficient of h‐BN and Sb 2 WO 6 compositions (12‐wt % h‐BN/Sb 2 WO 6 ) depicted an 80.8 % photo‐catalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) in 90 min under visible light irradiation compared to 42 % for pure Sb 2 WO 6 . The photocatalytic degradation of RhB exhibits k app value of 1.73×10 −2 min −1 which is 2.8 times greater than k app values of pristine Sb 2 WO 6 (6.01×10 −3 min −1 ). The radical scavenger tests reveal that the superoxide radicals ( . O 2 −1 ) and holes (h + ) are the main reactive species. Additionally, composite catalyst revealed a commendable photostability with 77.29 % retention of photocatalytic efficiency after four catalytic cycles.