Iron‐Doped Bismuth Tungstate with an Excellent Photocatalytic Performance

Abstract The metal‐doping of Bi‐based oxide photocatalysts to enhance the photocatalytic performance has been a research hotspot in recent years, but the research on the mechanism of doping‐induced photoactivity improvement is still incomplete. To illustrate the mechanism completely and clearly, Fe‐doped Bi 2 WO 6 , as an example, was synthesized by a facile hydrothermal route. Fe‐doped Bi 2 WO 6 exhibits a much higher photoactivity than pure Bi 2 WO 6 in the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) and salicylic acid (SA). By replacing W 6+ , the Fe 3+ doping narrows the energy band gap and generates many oxygen vacancies, which can increase the adsorption of both RhB and SA, and the introduced defect and Fe‐doping energy levels in the band gap of Bi 2 WO 6 increase the separation efficiency of photoinduced charge carriers significantly. These lead to the considerable photoactivity enhancement of Fe‐doped Bi 2 WO 6 . The photoactivity of Fe‐doped Bi 2 WO 6 is stable and superior to that of most reported modified Bi 2 WO 6 photocatalysts. This work illustrates in detail the mechanism for the photoactivity improvement of Fe‐doped Bi 2 WO 6 , which benefits the research of other metal‐doped photocatalysts.