A novel nitrogen doped reduced graphene oxide/Bi2WO6 nanocomposite with enhanced photocatalytic and antibacterial activity

Toxic effluents from various industries are a create major cause of water pollution, therefore, the development of efficient photocatalytic materials capable of degrade organic pollutants is in high demand. The construction of semiconductor-based heterojunction photocatalysts with highly reactive charge carrier is critical for the actual utilization of photocatalytic technology. In this work, an efficient nitrogen doped graphene oxide (N-GO)/Bi 2 WO 6 nanocomposite was synthesized by the hydrothermal approach to degrade organic dye under visible light exposure. Bi 2 WO 6 as a primary photocatalyst combination with N-GO as act an electron acceptor and transporter for Acid orange 7 (AO7) degradation from water using photocatalytic technique. Prepared samples structural, morphological and optical properties were examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (FE-SEM-EDX), UV-Visible and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The N-GO/Bi 2 WO 6 composite showed improved crystallinity and homogeneity compared to Bi 2 WO 6 . The photocatalytic performance of the pure Bi 2 WO 6 and N-GO/Bi 2 WO 6 photocatalyst degradation activities were evaluated towards Acid orange 7 under visible light illumination. The photocatalytic performance of N-GO/Bi 2 WO 6 nanocomposite shown higher photocatalytic activity compare to pure Bi 2 WO 6 nanoparticles towards AO7 degradation under 180 min of visible light irradiation, which could be due to the construction of heterojunction and visible light utilization efficiency. Furthermore, the antibacterial test results of the nanocomposite exhibit significant antibacterial activity against both gram-positive ( S. aureus ) and gram-negative ( E. coli ) bacteria.