Advances in BiWO-Based Photocatalysts for Degradation of Organic Pollutants.

With the rapid development of modern industries, water pollution has become an urgent problem that endangers the health of human and wild animals. The photocatalysis technique is considered an environmentally friendly strategy for removing organic pollutants in wastewater. As an important member of Bi-series semiconductors, BiWO is widely used for fabricating high-performance photocatalysts. In this review, the recent advances of BiWO-based photocatalysts are summarized. First, the controllable synthesis, surface modification and heteroatom doping of BiWO are introduced. In the respect of BiWO-based composites, existing BiWO-containing binary composites are classified into six types, including BiWO/carbon or MOF composite, BiWO/g-CN composite, BiWO/metal oxides composite, BiWO/metal sulfides composite, BiWO/Bi-series composite, and BiWO/metal tungstates composite. BiWO-based ternary composites are classified into four types, including BiWO/g-CN/X, BiWO/carbon/X, BiWO/Au or Ag-based materials/X, and BiWO/Bi-series semiconductors/X. The design, microstructure, and photocatalytic performance of BiWO-based binary and ternary composites are highlighted. Finally, aimed at the existing problems in BiWO-based photocatalysts, some solutions and promising research trends are proposed that would provide theoretical and practical guidelines for developing high-performance BiWO-based photocatalysts.