Hydrothermal synthesis of BiOBr/FeWO4 composite photocatalysts and their photocatalytic degradation of doxycycline

Novel BiOBr/FeWO4 composite photocatalysts were fabricated using the solvothermal method to degrade doxycycline under visible light irradiation. The crystalline structures, morphology, chemical composition, chemical bonding, energy band gap and photocatalytic properties of the samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, EDS, XPS, FT-IR and UV-Vis DRS. The BiOBr/FeWO4 composite photocatalysts with different molar mass ratios exhibited higher photocatalytic degradation efficiency of doxycycline than pure BiOBr and FeWO4, and the best photocatalytic degradation performance of 90% in 1 h was found for BiOBr/FeWO4 (4:1). XPS and FT-IR analyses revealed the elemental composition, corresponding hybrid orbitals and possible chemical bonds. The DRS results indicated that FeWO4 enhanced the light response range of BiOBr. The generation of O2− and holes was promoted by inhibiting the recombination of photogenerated carriers, which could lead to the higher photocatalytic activity.