Near-infrared photocatalytic activity induced by intrinsic defects in Bi2MO6 (M = W, Mo)

The electronic structure and related photocatalytic properties of Bi2MO6 (M = W, Mo) with various intrinsic defects are studied based on the first-principles density functional theory (DFT). Our results indicate that O vacancies form easily in both Bi2WO6 and Bi2MoO6 under Bi rich/O poor conditions. The near-infrared light transitions can be realized involving electrons from the O vacancy induced impurity states within the band gap to the conduction band. Rather than acting as photogenerated carrier recombination centers, the impurity states caused by O vacancies favor the transfer of photogenerated holes and further benefit the photocatalytic process due to the delocalized nature. The spatial separation of photogenerated carriers among different layers can be realized, which reduces the carrier recombination and improves the photocatalytic activity. In addition, Bi2WO6 with O vacancies is desirable for having better near-infrared photocatalytic performance than Bi2MoO6 due to the larger mobility of photogenerated holes.