Interfacial Growth of Activated Carbon on WO3 Nanoplates for Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity by Surface Plasmon Resonance

Abstract

A highly efficient, visible-light-driven and hybrid-activated carbon-doped pure tungsten trioxide (WO3) composite photocatalyst, with greatest stability has been synthesized by using hydrothermal method. Carbon nanoparticles were prepared by using sugarcane bagasse, and tungsten trioxide was prepared by using sodium tungstate (Na2WO4·2H2O) as a starting material. This study considers the photo-degradation of paracetamol by photocatalysis process, under visible-light irradiation. To study the properties of the prepared materials, SEM, TEM, FTIR, PL, and UV were performed. SEM was used to find the structure and size of the prepared materials. FTIR was used to analyze the presence of functional groups in the material. PL and UV were used to analyze the optical properties of the prepared materials. The SEM images of the prepared sample of WO3 showed that it has structure-like nanocubic and rectangular rods which become sharper by addition of carbon nanoparticles. The average size of the nanorods was about 50–550 nm. Some of the nanorods have smaller sizes about 25–250 nm which became beneficial for the photo-degradation process. UV–Vis spectroscopy showed that the band gap of the prepared samples varied from 2.78 to 2.26 eV, and this variation of the band gap was due to the variation in the concentration of the carbon nanoparticles. PL-spectroscopy analyzed the excitation wavelength of the prepared sample which was 448 nm. The efficiency of the prepared samples was evaluated by using paracetamol as target pollutant; carbon-doped composites of WO3 showed a greater photocatalytic performance as compared with the pure WO3. From the results of the photocatalytic activity, it was clear that composite having 2% carbon has the highest efficiency to degrade the paracetamol.