One-step hydrothermal coating approach to photocatalytically active oxide composites

Three-dimensional Bi2WO6/TiO2 hierarchical heterostructures with secondary anatase TiO2 nanoparticles grown on primary Bi2WO6 microspheres have been successfully obtained by a low temperature hydrothermal method. The hierarchical Bi2WO6/TiO2 structures displayed significantly enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity in comparison to isolated Bi2WO6 microspheres and TiO2 nanoparticles. Furthermore, this methodology is of general interest, because it can be used to fabricate other oxide heterostructures, such as BiVO4/TiO2 and Bi2MoO6/TiO2