Preparation of Bi₂WO₆/Ag₃PO₄ Composite and Its High‐Efficiency Photocatalytic Degradation of Antibiotics

Abstract Ag 3 PO 4 exhibits significant limitations, including severe charge carrier recombination and inadequate stability, which hinder its photocatalytic efficiency. To overcome these challenges, Bi 2 WO 6 was selected as a coupling semiconductor due to its wide bandgap and robust redox potential. Subsequently, highly efficient Bi 2 WO 6 /Ag 3 PO 4 composites were successfully synthesized via the chemical precipitation method, aiming to enhance their photocatalytic performance. The photocatalytic degradation ability of these composites under visible light was investigated using tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) as a model molecule. SEM results revealed that Bi 2 WO 6 particles were uniformly dispersed on the surface of Ag 3 PO 4 , effectively mitigating the agglomeration of Ag 3 PO 4 . PL spectra demonstrated that coupling Bi 2 WO 6 with Ag 3 PO 4 suppressed charge recombination by promoting efficient photogenerated charge separation. When the Bi 2 WO 6 content was 3 wt%, the degradation rate of TCH (50 mg/L) reached 66.5% within 30 min, whereas the degradation rates for pure Ag 3 PO 4 and pure Bi 2 WO 6 were 49.5% and 7.7%, respectively. This enhancement is likely due to heterojunction formation, which effectively suppresses the recombination of photogenerated electron‐hole pairs. Cyclic experiment results demonstrated that the 3 wt% Bi 2 WO 6 /Ag 3 PO 4 composite exhibited certain stability over multiple cycles. The free radical capture experiments showed that the primary active species in TCH degradation was the holes (h + ).