{"title":"Innovative Photocatalytic Framework Fe3+-Bi2WO6: Efficient Photocatalytic Degradation of Tetracycline Antibiotics and Mechanistic Studies","authors":"Hui Sun, Bingge Chen, Gaoyang Liang, Jingqi Jia, Wangjun Pei, Hongxia Jing","doi":"10.1007/s10876-025-02866-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Enhancing the visible light response activity of semiconductor photocatalytic materials is a core challenge in the field of environmental catalysis. Transition metal doping has become an effective modification strategy due to its tunable electronic structure characteristics. In this study, aiming at the problems of high carrier recombination rate and insufficient visible light response of Bi<sub>2</sub>WO<sub>6</sub> photocatalyst, a Fe<sup>3+</sup> doping modification strategy was proposed. Fe<sup>3+</sup>-doped Bi<sub>2</sub>WO<sub>6</sub> (Fe<sup>3+</sup>-Bi<sub>2</sub>WO<sub>6</sub>) was synthesized by hydrothermal-calcination method, and its visible light photocatalytic degradation performance for tetracycline (TC) was systematically evaluated. Based on the ion radius matching characteristics of Fe<sup>3+</sup> (0.0645 nm) and W<sup>6+</sup> (0.060 nm), Fe<sup>3+</sup> directionally replaces the W<sup>6+</sup> site in the Bi<sub>2</sub>WO<sub>6</sub> lattice and induces the formation of oxygen vacancies. The characterization results show that the specific surface area of Fe<sup>3+</sup>-Bi<sub>2</sub>WO<sub>6</sub> is increased to 29.82 m<sup>2</sup>/g (the original phase is 24.00 m<sup>2</sup>/g). The response range of its absorption spectrum in the visible region has been significantly expanded (the band gap is reduced from 2.90 eV to 2.58 eV), and the photocurrent density reaches 0.835 × 10<sup>− 3</sup> mA/cm<sup>2</sup> (the original phase is 0.356 × 10<sup>− 3</sup> mA/cm<sup>2</sup>). When the doping ratio was optimized (Fe<sup>3+</sup>: Bi<sub>2</sub>WO<sub>6</sub> = 0.26:100), the degradation rate of TC reached 85.97% within 60 min, and the reaction rate constant (0.03027 min⁻<sup>1</sup>) was 1.53 times higher than that of the original phase. The mechanism investigation reveals that the abundance of oxygen vacancies not only significantly enhances the separation of photogenerated charge carriers but also effectively increases the number of active sites; at the same time, Fe<sup>3+</sup> acts as an electron trap to inhibit recombination, and the dominant active species (·O<sub>2</sub><sup>−</sup> and h<sup>+</sup>) synergistically achieve efficient degradation. This work provides new insights for designing cost-effective transition metal-doped bismuth-based photocatalysts.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":618,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cluster Science","volume":"36 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Cluster Science","FirstCategoryId":"92","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10876-025-02866-3","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, INORGANIC & NUCLEAR","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Enhancing the visible light response activity of semiconductor photocatalytic materials is a core challenge in the field of environmental catalysis. Transition metal doping has become an effective modification strategy due to its tunable electronic structure characteristics. In this study, aiming at the problems of high carrier recombination rate and insufficient visible light response of Bi2WO6 photocatalyst, a Fe3+ doping modification strategy was proposed. Fe3+-doped Bi2WO6 (Fe3+-Bi2WO6) was synthesized by hydrothermal-calcination method, and its visible light photocatalytic degradation performance for tetracycline (TC) was systematically evaluated. Based on the ion radius matching characteristics of Fe3+ (0.0645 nm) and W6+ (0.060 nm), Fe3+ directionally replaces the W6+ site in the Bi2WO6 lattice and induces the formation of oxygen vacancies. The characterization results show that the specific surface area of Fe3+-Bi2WO6 is increased to 29.82 m2/g (the original phase is 24.00 m2/g). The response range of its absorption spectrum in the visible region has been significantly expanded (the band gap is reduced from 2.90 eV to 2.58 eV), and the photocurrent density reaches 0.835 × 10− 3 mA/cm2 (the original phase is 0.356 × 10− 3 mA/cm2). When the doping ratio was optimized (Fe3+: Bi2WO6 = 0.26:100), the degradation rate of TC reached 85.97% within 60 min, and the reaction rate constant (0.03027 min⁻1) was 1.53 times higher than that of the original phase. The mechanism investigation reveals that the abundance of oxygen vacancies not only significantly enhances the separation of photogenerated charge carriers but also effectively increases the number of active sites; at the same time, Fe3+ acts as an electron trap to inhibit recombination, and the dominant active species (·O2− and h+) synergistically achieve efficient degradation. This work provides new insights for designing cost-effective transition metal-doped bismuth-based photocatalysts.
期刊介绍:
The journal publishes the following types of papers: (a) original and important research;
(b) authoritative comprehensive reviews or short overviews of topics of current
interest; (c) brief but urgent communications on new significant research; and (d)
commentaries intended to foster the exchange of innovative or provocative ideas, and
to encourage dialogue, amongst researchers working in different cluster
disciplines.