Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Hydrothermal synthesis of WO3/Fe2O3 nanosheet arrays on iron foil for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue

  • Published:
Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The growth of WO3/Fe2O3 nanosheet arrays on iron foil was fabricated by a facile and efficient hydrothermal treatment. The morphology and optical property of as-prepared WO3/Fe2O3 nanocomposites were characterized by using field-emission scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectra. The photocatalytic activity of the as-synthesized WO3/Fe2O3 nanocomposite was evaluated by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) in aqueous solution under visible-light (λ > 420 nm) irradiation. It was observed that the sample obtained with a hydrothermal reaction time for 2 h exhibited the best photocatalytic performance. The kinetics of the MB degradation was found to comply with the Langmuir–Hinshelwood model. The photocatalytic efficiencies of WO3/Fe2O3NSAs correlated with the effective separation of photogenerated electron–hole pairs. Hence, the WO3/Fe2O3NSAs are excellent candidate for visible-light-driven photocatalysts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. E. Mena, A. Rey, E.M. Rodriguez, F.J. Beltran, Reaction mechanism and kinetics of DEET visible light assisted photocatalytic ozonation with WO3 catalyst. Appl. Catal. B Environ 202, 460–472 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. L. Zhu, M. Hong, G.W. Ho, Fabrication of wheat grain textured TiO2/CuO composite nanofibers for enhanced solar H2 generation and degradation performance. Nano Energy 11, 28–37 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. S.S. Thind, K. Rozic, F. Amano, A. Chen, Fabrication and photoelectrochemical study of WO3-based bifunctional electrodes for environmental applications. Appl. Catal. B Environ. 176, 464–471(2015)

  4. R. Mukherjee, A. Kushwaha, P.P. Sahay, Spray-deposited nanocrystalline WO3 thin films prepared using tungsten hexachloride dissolved in N-N dimethylformamide and influence of in doping on their structural, optical and electrical properties. Electron. Mater. Lett 2, 401–410 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. H. Xia, W. Xiong, C.K. Lim, Q.F. Yao, Y.D. Wang, J.P. Xie, Hierarchical TiO2-B nanowire @ a-Fe2O3 nanothorn core-branch arrays as superior electrodes for lithium-ion microbatteries. Nano Res. 7, 1797–1808 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. S.M. Lam, J.C. Sin, A.Z. Abdullah, A.R. Mohamed, Sunlight responsive WO3/ZnO nanosheets for photocatalytic degradation and mineralization of chlorinated phenoxyacetic acid herbicides in water. J. Colloid Interface. Sci 450, 34–44 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. S. Hosseini, E. Eftekhari, S.M. Soltani, F.E. Babadi, L.J. Minggu, M.H.S. Ismail, Synthesis, characterization and performance evaluation of three-layered photoanodes by introducing a blend of WO3 and Fe2O3 for dye degradation. Appl. Surf. Sci 289, 53–61 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. E.K. Heidari, E. Marzbanrad, C. Zamani, B. Raissi, Nanocasting synthesis of ultrafine WO3 nanoparticles for gas sensing applications. Nanoscale Res. Lett 5, 370–373 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. C.A. Bignozzi, S. Caramori, V. Cristino, R. Argazzi, L. Meda, A. Tacca, Nanostructured photoelectrodes based on WO3: applications to photo oxidation of aqueous electrolytes. Chem. Soc. Rev 42, 2228 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. S. Aravinth, B. Sankar, S.R. Chakravarthi, R. Sarathi, Generation and characterization of nano tungsten oxide particles by wire explosion process. Mater. Charact 62, 248–255 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Q.Y. Zeng, J.H. Li, J. Bai, X.J. Li, L.G. Xia, B.X. Zhou, Preparation of vertically aligned WO3 nanoplate array films based on peroxotungstate reduction reaction and their excellent photoelectrocatalytic performance. Appl. Catal. B Environ 202, 388–396 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. N.A.R. Delgado, L.H. Reyes, I.L.G. Mar, M.A.G. Pinilla, A.H. Ramírez, Synthesis by sol-gel of WO3/TiO2 for solar photocatalytic degradation of malathion pesticide., Catal. Today. 209, 35–40 (2013)

  13. A. Mao, J.K. Kim, K. Shin, D.H. Wang, P.J. Yoo, G.Y. Han, J.H. Park, Hematite modified tungsten trioxide nanoparticle photoanode for solar water oxidation. J. Power Sources 210, 32–37 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. S. Hosseini, E. Eftekhari, S.M. Soltani, F.E. Babadi, L.J. Minggu, M.H. Shah Ismail, Synthesis, characterization and performance evaluation of three-layered photoanodes by introducing a blend of WO3 and Fe2O3 for dye degradation. Appl. Surf. Sci 289, 53–61 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. P.V. Tong, N.D. Hoa, N.V. Duy, D.T.T. Le, N.V. Hieu, Enhancement of gas-sensing characteristics of hydrothermally synthesized WO3 nanosheets by surface decoration with Pd nanoparticles. Sens. Actuat. B Chem 223, 453–460 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. N. Siedl, S.O. Baumann, M.J. Elser, O. Diwald, Particle networks from powder mixtures: generation of TiO2-SnO2 heterojunctions via surface charge-induced heteroaggregation. J. Phys. Chem. C 116, 22967–22973 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. S.H. Shen, C.X. Kronawitter, J.H. Jiang, S.S. Mao, L.J. Guo, Surface tuning for promoted charge transfer in hematite nanosheet arrays as water-splitting photoanodes. Nano Res. 5, 327–336 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. G.Y. Zhang, Y. Feng, Y.Y. Xu, D.Z. Gao, Y.Q. Sun, Controlled synthesis of mesoporous a-Fe2 O3 nanosheets and visible light photocatalytic property. Mater. Res. Bull 47, 625–630 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. N.A.R. Delgado, M.A.G. Pinilla, L.M. Treviño, L.H. Reyes, J.L.G. Mar, A.H. Ramírez, Solar photocatalytic activity of TiO2 modified with WO3 on the degradation of an organophosphorus pesticide. J. Hazard. Mater 263, 36–44 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. C.W. Lai, S. Sreekantan, Preparation of hybrid WO3-TiO2 nanotube photoelectrodes using anodization and wet impregnation: improved water-splitting hydrogen generation performance. Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 5, 2156–2166 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. T. Stoycheva, F.E. Annanouch, I. Gràcia, E. Llobet, C. Blackman, X. Correig, S. Vallejos, Micromachined gas sensors based on tungsten oxide nanoneedles directly integrated via aerosol assisted CVD. Sens. Actuat. B Chem 198, 210–218 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Z.L. Xu, I. Tabata, K. Hirogaki, K. Hisada, T. Wang, S. Wang, T. Hori, Preparation of platinum-loaded cubic tungsten oxide: a highly efficient visible light-driven photocatalyst. Mater. Lett 65, 1252–1256 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. M.H.S. Abhudhahir, J. Kandasamy, Synthesis and characterization of manganese doped tungsten oxide by microwave irradiation method. J. Mater. Sci. Semicond. Process 40, 695–700 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. M.M. Rashad, A.E. Shalan, Hydrothermal synthesis of hierarchical WO3 nanostructures for dye-sensitized solar cells. Appl. Phys A 116, 781–788 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. S.M. Harshulkhan, K. Janaki, G. Velraj, R.S. Ganapathy, S. Krishnaraj, Structural and optical properties of Ag doped tungsten oxide (WO3) by microwave-assisted chemical route. J. Mater. Sci: Mater. Electron 27, 3158–3163 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  26. S.A.K. Leghari, S. Sajjad, F. Chen, J.L. Zhang, WO3/TiO2 composite with morphology change via hydrothermal template-free route as an efficient visible light photocatalyst. Chem. Eng. J 166, 906–915 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Y.C. Her, C.C. Changa, Facile synthesis of one-dimensional crystalline/ amorphous tungsten oxide core/shell heterostructures with balanced electrochromic properties. CrystEngComm 16, 5379–5386 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. D. Barreca, G. Carraro, A. Gasparotto, C. Maccato, C. Sada, E. Bontempi, M. Brisotto, O. Pliekhova, U.L. Stangar, Novel two-step vapor-phase synthesis of UV–Vis light active Fe2O3/WO3 nanocomposites for phenol degradation. Environ. Sci. Pollut. R 23, 20350–20359 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. S.S. Shendage, V.L. Patil, S.A. Vanalakar, S.P. Patil, N.S. Harale, J.L. Bhosale, J.H. Kim, P.S. Patil, Sensitive and selective NO2 gas sensor based on WO3 nanoplates. Sens. Actuat. B Chem 240, 426–433 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. D. Pradhan, K.T. Leung, Controlled growth of two-dimensional and one- dimensional ZnO nanostructures on indium oxide coated glass by direct electrodeposition. Langmuir 24, 9707–9716 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. A.K.L. Sajjad, S. Shamaila, B.Z. Tian, F. Chen, J.L. Zhang, Comparative studies of operational parameters of degradation of azo dyes in visible light by highly efficient WOx/TiO2 photocatalyst. J. Hazard. Mater 177, 781–791 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. H. Kim, H. Kim, S. Weon, G. Moon, J.H. Kim, W. Choi, Robust Co-catalytic performance of nanodiamonds loaded on WO3 for the decomposition of volatile organic compounds under visible light. ACS Catal 6, 8350–8360 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51171133, 51471122, and 51601136) and the Key Program of Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province of China (No. 2015CFA128).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The State Key Laboratory of Refractories and Metallurgy, School of Materials and Metallurgy, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430081, China

    Rui Lei, Hongwei Ni, Rongsheng Chen, Bowei Zhang, Weiting Zhan & Yang Li

Authors
  1. Rui Lei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hongwei Ni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rongsheng Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Bowei Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Weiting Zhan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Yang Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hongwei Ni.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lei, R., Ni, H., Chen, R. et al. Hydrothermal synthesis of WO3/Fe2O3 nanosheet arrays on iron foil for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 28, 10481–10487 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-017-6821-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-017-6821-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation