Highly Efficient Nanostructured Bi₂WO₆ Thin Film Electrodes for Photoelectrochemical and Environment Remediation

Nanostructured Bi₂WO₆ thin film electrodes with enhanced solar energy conversion and photocatalytic properties have been fabricated using Aerosol-Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition (AACVD). By conveniently controlling the deposition process parameters, Bi₂WO₆ electrodes were fabricated with nanoplates and hierarchical buckyball-shaped microsphere structures morphology. A detailed study has been conducted to correlate the structure and morphology with the photoelectrochemical (PEC) and photocatalytic dye degradation performance. The PEC investigations revealed that the hierarchical buckyball-shaped microsphere structured Bi₂WO₆ electrodes have shown the photocurrent density of 220 μAcm^-2 while nanoplates have a photocurrent density of 170 μAcm^-2 at 0.23 V (vs. Ag/AgCl/3M KCl) under AM1.5 illumination. The PEC characterization of Bi₂WO₆ electrodes also reveals that the photocurrent density and photocurrent onset potential is strongly dependent on the orientation and morphology, hence the deposition parameters. Similarly, the methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RhB) photodegradation performance of Bi₂WO₆ electrodes also show a strong correlation with morphology. This finding provides an appropriate route to engineer the energetic and interfacial properties of Bi₂WO₆ electrode to enhance solar energy conversion and the photocatalytic performance of semiconductor materials.