Molten salt synthesis of Bi2WO6 powders with enhanced visible-light-induced photocatalytic activities

•Bi2WO6 powders were synthesized by a novel molten salt method.•The effects of the temperature and the salt amount were investigated.•The as-prepared Bi2WO6 powders showed excellent photocatalytic activity.

Novel visible-light-induced Bi2WO6 photocatalysts were successfully synthesized by a molten salt method. The effects of the calcination temperature and the salt amount were investigated. The results indicated that the presence of molten salts significantly enhanced the surface area of the powders from 7.08 to a maximum of 21.09 m2 g−1, and higher calcination temperature improved the crystallinity but decreased the surface area of the powders. When the precursor powders were calcinated at 300 °C for 8 h with the presence of 10 times weight of salts, the as-synthesized Bi2WO6 powders exhibited the highest degradation efficiency in the photodegradation of RhB under the visible light irradiation and the reaction contant was more than 10 times that of the samples synthesized without adding salts.

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