Abstract:Rare earth element Ce3+ doped Bi2WO6 was synthesized by hydrothermal method. The physicochemical properties of prepared materials were characterized by XRD, SEM, UV-vis DRS and N2adsorption-desorption. Rhodamine B was used to as the objective pollutant to investigate the photocatalytic activity of Ce/Bi2WO6. As a result, Ce/Bi2WO6 (0.05%) has the optimum phtocatalytic activity to removal rhodamine B, which has good crystalinity, uniform shape and size, strong visible light-responsible property and the higher SBET value (ca. 10%) than pure Bi2WO6. Much more amount of catalyst, less concentration of Rhodamine B, lower pH value of the reaction solution and higher concentration of H2O2 all benefit the adsorption and photodegradation of Rhodamine B by Ce/Bi2WO6. The common inorganic ions showed different effects on Rhodamine B degradation. There was no significantly effect of NO3- and SO42-; but the addition of Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl- inhibited the removal of the dye. HCO3- reduced the adsorption of Rhodamine B but accelerated its photodegradation. In addition, after three recycling runs, Ce/Bi2WO6 (0.05%) still kept high photocatalytic activities on the degradation of rhodamine B.