Preparation of WO3/g-C3N4 composites with enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production performance

Abstract

Tungsten trioxide was prepared by a hydrothermal method, and WO3/g-C3N4 composite photocatalysts were prepared in two steps by hydrothermal synthesis and muffle furnace calcination. The hydrogen production experiment was carried out using g-C3N4 and WO3/g-C3N4 composites under simulated visible light irradiation. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM), ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis. It was found that WO3(H2O)0.333 prepared by hydrothermal treatment is nanorod-like and forms an effective combination with lamellar g-C3N4. The hydrogen production rate of the optimal sample is 224.4 μmol/h, which is twice that of pure g-C3N4. The addition of tungsten trioxide improves the separation efficiency of photogenerated electron–hole pairs and contributes to the improvement in the photocatalytic performance. This is of great significance to the application of modified g-C3N4.