α-Fe 2 O 3 Tailored Bi 2 WO 6 Hierarchical Microspheres for the Effective Photocatalytic Degradation of Antibiotic Ciprofloxacin and Cationic Rhodamine B Aqueous Dye

Abstract

Abstract α-Fe2O3 tailored Bi2WO6 hierarchical microspheres have been effectively synthesized and well characterized. The photocatalytic efficacy was improved by the Fe-BW-3% heterojunction on the degradation of ciprofloxacin as a pharmaceutical and rhodamine B as a cationic dye pollutant. The increased photocatalytic activity was attributed to the increment of visible light absorbing ability and reduced rate of light-induced electron and hole recombination by moving electrons from one junction to another. The recycle investigations revealed that the catalysts are stable for CIP and RhB degradation after six cycles. Furthermore, scavenging experiments show that holes were the primary active species for the CIP and RhB degradation.