Significant enhanced performance for Rhodamine B, phenol and Cr(VI) removal by Bi2WO6 nancomposites via reduced graphene oxide modification

A series of reduced graphene oxdie(RGO) modified Bi2WO6 nanocomposites were synthesized by hydrothermal method and characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface areas analysis. The results indicated that the RGO could be used as structure-directing agent in the process of formation of the RGO/Bi2WO6 nanocomposites. The as-prepared RGO/Bi2WO6 nanocomposites can effectively remove Rhodamine B, phenol and Cr(VI) from water under UV and visible light irradiation. Therefore, the amount of RGO in the composite is an important factor affecting photocatalytic activity of RGO/Bi2WO6 nanocomposites. Therefore, the optimum amount of RGO is 20 mg, at which the RGO/Bi2WO6 sample displays the highest reactivity. Furthermore, the as-prepared photocatalyst has its prominent potential as a readily separable and recoverable one. Our findings demonstrated that RGO could be utilized as a modified and structure-directing agent for promising development of high-performance photocatalysts in the environmental applications. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.