Cerium-substituted hierarchical Bi₂WO₆ microspheres for the effective removal of chloramphenicol and rhodamine B dye through photocatalysis

A facile hydrothermal technique was used to synthesize a cerium-substituted Bi₂WO₆ microsphere for efficient photocatalytic degradation of chloramphenicol (CPL) and rhodamine B (RhB) contaminants. The catalysts were thoroughly characterized using sophisticated instruments and the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of the cerium-substituted Bi₂WO₆ photocatalyst was up to 93.95% for CPL degradation and 97.5% for RhB degradation within 150 min of light illumination. The increased efficiency is mostly due to the effective suppression of photoinduced electron and hole recombination through the development of an intermediate energy state. The photocatalyst demonstrated outstanding stability after five consecutive cycle studies for both CPL and RhB degradation under identical conditions. According to the results of the recycling and scavenging studies, the catalysts with the highest stability and primary radicals were identified as holes. The probable photocatalytic degradation process was postulated based on the experimental results of the catalysts.