Controllable Synthesis and Enhanced Photoactivity of Two‐Dimensional Bi2WO6 Ultra‐Thin Nanosheets

Abstract Two‐dimensional Bi 2 WO 6 ultra‐thin nanosheets were controllably synthesized by a cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)‐assisted hydrothermal method. The structure, morphology, energy gap, and thickness of the samples were characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), (diffuse reflection spectroscopy) DRS, and so on. The photocatalytic activity of the samples was analyzed by the degradation of rhodamine B. The photocatalytic performance of the ultrathin nanosheets was much enhanced nearly 3.5 folds higher than that of Bi 2 WO 6 nanoparticles, which was attributed to the narrow band gap and the open sandwich structure, resulting in the improved light harvesting and the rapid separation and transfer of the photoinduced charge carriers. According to the radical trapping results, the dominant active species involving in the photocatalytic process were determined.