Hierarchical Sr-Bi2WO6 photocatalyst for the degradation of 4-nitrophenol and methylene blue

[Display omitted] •A simple hydrothermal method was proposed to prepare hierarchical Sr-Bi2WO6 catalyst.•Hierarchical 15% Sr-Bi2WO6 shows the excellent catalytic activity for 4-NP & MB.•The highest photocatalytic efficiency of 99.4 % for 4-NP and 99.5% for MB.•The hierarchical 15% Sr-Bi2WO6 photocatalyst as efficient and reusable catalyst. There is an urgent need to build effective and environmentally friendly photocatalysts due to environmental pollution caused by primarily organic molecules. Bismuth tungstate (Bi2WO6) nanocomposites have a wide range of compositions and morphologies, making them intriguing materials for environmental applications. Hierarchical Strontium-based Bismuth tungstate (Sr-Bi2WO6) catalysts made from these nanocomposites have improved photocatalytic effectiveness against organic contaminants. We created hierarchical strontium-based bismuth tungstate (Sr-Bi2WO6) composites using a single-step hydrothermal synthesis process. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectra, specific surface area, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to characterize the synthesized catalysts. The photocatalytic activity of hierarchical 15% Sr-Bi2WO6 composites for both the reduction of p-nitrophenol (4-NP) and degradation of methylene blue (MB) under UV light is outstanding. When reducing 4-NP to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) in the presence of NaBH4, the 15% Sr-Bi2WO6 catalyst demonstrated good catalytic activity and recycling properties. In comparison to pristine Bi2WO6, 5% Sr-Bi2WO6, 10% Sr-Bi2WO6, photocatalyst containing 15% Sr-Bi2WO6 perform exceptionally well, degrading 99.5 percent MB in 25 minutes and 99.4 percent 4-NP reduction in 15 minutes under UV light and NaBH4, respectively. This remarkable increase in photocatalytic activity could be attributed to the fact that Sr2+ may aid charge carrier separation by trapping Sr ions and creating oxygen vacancies.