A review of controllable synthesis and enhancement of performances of bismuth tungstate visible-light-driven photocatalysts

Heterogeneous photocatalysts offer great potential for converting photon energy into chemical energy and for decomposing organic contaminants. Many efficient photocatalysts have been proposed, unfortunately, most of these photocatalysts work only in the UV light region. It is necessary to develop visible-light-active photocatalysts to effectively utilize solar energy. This paper reviews a novel non-TiO2 photocatalyst, Bi2WO6, which shows high activity under visible light irradiation. The controllable synthesis of Bi2WO6 nanoplates and highly porous films of Bi2WO6, as well as several methods for improving the photocatalytic activity of Bi2WO6, specifically the efforts from the authors' group are reviewed.