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. 2022 Mar 28;15(7):2482.
doi: 10.3390/ma15072482.

Fabrication and Characterization of Highly Efficient As-Synthesized WO3/Graphitic-C3N4 Nanocomposite for Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Compounds

Mai S A Hussien  1   2 , Abdelfatteh Bouzidi  3 , Hisham S M Abd-Rabboh  4   5 , Ibrahim S Yahia  6   7   8 , Heba Y Zahran  6   7   8 , Mohamed Sh Abdel-Wahab  9 , Walaa Alharbi  10 , Nasser S Awwad  4 , Medhat A Ibrahim  11   12
Affiliations

Fabrication and Characterization of Highly Efficient As-Synthesized WO3/Graphitic-C3N4 Nanocomposite for Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Compounds

Mai S A Hussien et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

The incorporation of tungsten trioxide (WO3) by various concentrations of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) was successfully studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and Diffused Reflectance UV-Vis techniques were applied to investigate morphological and microstructure analysis, diffused reflectance optical properties, and photocatalysis measurements of WO3/g-C3N4 photocatalyst composite organic compounds. The photocatalytic activity of incorporating WO3 into g-C3N4 composite organic compounds was evaluated by the photodegradation of both Methylene Blue (MB) dye and phenol under visible-light irradiation. Due to the high purity of the studied heterojunction composite series, no observed diffraction peaks appeared when incorporating WO3 into g-C3N4 composite organic compounds. The particle size of the prepared composite organic compound photocatalysts revealed no evident influence through the increase in WO3 atoms from the SEM characteristic. The direct and indirect bandgap were recorded for different mole ratios of WO3/g-C3N4, and indicated no apparent impact on bandgap energy with increasing WO3 content in the composite photocatalyst. The composite photocatalysts' properties better understand their photocatalytic activity degradations. The pseudo-first-order reaction constants (K) can be calculated by examining the kinetic photocatalytic activity.

Keywords: Methylene Blue and phenol degradations; diffused reflectance UV-Vis; microstructure analysis; photocatalysis; tungsten trioxide.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
XRD patterns of pure g-C3N4 powder and its WO3 doping on g-C3N4 composite organic compounds (0.001, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.5 g of WO3).
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a–f) SEM images of pure g-C3N4 and its WO3/g-C3N4 nanocomposite organic compounds with various amounts of tungsten oxide (0.001, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.5 g of WO3, respectively).
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a–c) Diffused reflectance optics UV-Vis (a), (αhυ)2 (b) and (αhυ)1/2 (c) versus the incident photon energy hυ of pure g-C3N4 and its WO3/g-C3N4, with various amounts of tungsten oxide (0.001, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.5 g of WO3).
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a–c) Diffused reflectance optics UV-Vis (a), (αhυ)2 (b) and (αhυ)1/2 (c) versus the incident photon energy hυ of pure g-C3N4 and its WO3/g-C3N4, with various amounts of tungsten oxide (0.001, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.5 g of WO3).
Figure 4
Figure 4
The degradation (%) of MB (a,b) phenol for pure g-C3N4 and its WO3/g-C3N4 nanocomposites.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The degradation (%) of MB (a,b) phenol for pure g-C3N4 and its WO3/g-C3N4 nanocomposites.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a,b) The kinetic degradation curves of MB (a) and (b) Phenol for pure g-C3N4 and its WO3/g-C3N4 nanocomposites.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Photocatalytic mechanism of WO3/g-C3N4 nanocomposites.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The recycling process for pure g-C3N4 and its WO3/g-C3N4 nanocomposites in photodegradation of (a) MB, (b) phenol.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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