WO3 dispersed on a titanium porous clay heterostructure as a highly efficient visible light-active photocatalyst

Abstract

Nanocomposites of WO3-dispersed titanium-porous clay heterostructures (W/Ti-PCH) from montmorillonite raw clay were synthesized and reported for the first time in this paper. The nanocomposite was prepared by impregnating tungstophosphoric acid into the titanium-porous clay heterostructure (Ti-PCH). The physicochemical features of the nanocomposite were characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), UV–visible diffuse reflectance UV–visible spectroscopy (UV-DRS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and gas sorption analyses. Identification using XRD and XPS revealed that the dispersion of WO3 anchored on the Ti-PCH surface led to an increase in the band gap energy of the material from 3.1 eV in Ti-PCH to 3.22 eV in W/Ti-PCH. The improved characteristics support the excellent photocatalytic activity for RhB degradation, as 99.99 % removal was achieved after 15 min of treatment.