Visible-light photocatalytic properties of γ-Bi2O3 composited with Fe2O3

Bismuth oxide was widely studied as an important oxide with wide application in industry area. Our former work indicates that γ-Bi2O3 presents high visible-light photocatalytic activity. In this paper, a series of γ-Bi2O3/Fe2O3 samples with different content of Fe2O3 were prepared by sol-gel method. The visible-light photocatalytic activity of γ-Bi2O3/Fe2O3 composites was evaluated by degradation of RhB. The result shows that the photocatalytic activity of composite photocatalyst changes with the content of Fe2O3. When the composite content is under 30 wt.%, the photocatalytic activity of the samples is enhanced comparing to γ-Bi2O3. The best composite content is 10 wt.%. In addition, the photocatalytic mechanism of this kind of composite photocatalyst was discussed.