Mesoporous copper aluminate-modified tungsten trioxide nanocomposite for boosted photocatalytic H2 generation employing visible light exposure

Abstract

Semiconductor photocatalysis is the most effective technology for producing “green” hydrogen, achieving sustainability to a high extent. Regrettably, the speedy re-pairing rate of photo-excited holes and electrons still represents the greatest challenge for developing heterogeneous photocatalysis. This contribution used a mixed surfactant-assisted hydrothermal route followed by an impregnation approach to construct mesoporous CuAl2O4/WO3 p-n heterojunction. Furthermore, a detailed investigation of the impact of CuAl2O4 (3.0–12.0 wt%) loading on the phase structure, surface composition, optical, textural, photo-caused charge carriers' separation ability, and photoactivity of WO3 material was provided. It was demonstrated that the constructed heterojunctions displayed improved visible-light-absorbance potential and photo-excited charge carriers' separation owing to reducing the bandgap to 2.15 eV and prompting charges' separation and transfer through forming step (S)-scheme p-n heterojunction. The 9.0 wt% CuAl2O4-loaded tungsten trioxide (1.2 g L–1) generated ∼ 18-fold as much hydrogen as the non-modified WO3 material. Additionally, when the photocatalyst dosage was raised from 1.2 to 1.8 g L–1, the H2 generation was augmented by 1.24 times with interesting sustainability through five consecutive cycles. This study opens the door to using this highly efficient, powerful, and sustainable material to solve numerous daily issues.