Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity of ZnWO₄ Catalyst via Fluorine Doping

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Fluorine interstitially doped ZnWO 4 (F−ZnWO 4 ) was synthesized by fluorine-ion addition in a hydrothermal process. The effects of fluorine doping on crystal structure, optical properties, and photocatalytic activity of ZnWO 4 catalyst were investigated. The results showed that the doped fluorine ions could increase the coordination sphere around the W atom in a WO 6 octahedron and cause the distortion of the WO 6 octahedron in a ZnWO 4 crystal. Moreover, the strength of absorption in the UV region and transfer rate of photogenerated electrons to the surface increased after doping with fluorine. With an increase of fluorine doping concentration, the photoactivities of samples were enhanced greatly. The photocatalytic activity can be enhanced 2.6 times for the degradation of RhB when the optimal atomic ratio of F/Zn was 0.4. The enhanced photocatalytic activity originated from the increase of transfer rate of photogenerated electrons to the photocatalyst surface.