Tungsten oxide nanostructures peculiarity and photocatalytic activity for the efficient elimination of the organic pollutant

Abstract

For the rst time, the effect of gemini based twin-tail and conventional surfactant on tungsten oxide nanostructures and their e cacy for the elimination of the organic pollutant is studied. The tungsten oxide nanostructures were synthesized by a simple hydrothermal route in the presence of C 14 TAB and gemini based twin-tail surfactant. The impact of using these special shape and size directing agents for the synthesis of nanostructures was observed in the form of different shapes and sizes. The tungsten oxide web of chains type nanostructure was obtained using C 14 TAB in comparison to the cube shaped nanoparticles through twin-tail surfactant. On contrary, the twin-tail surfactant provides sustainable and controlled growth of cube shape nanoparticles of size ~ 15 nm nearly half of the size ~ 35 nm obtained using conventional surfactant C 14 TAB, respectively. For the detailed structural features, the Williamson-Hall analysis method was implemented to nd out the crystalline size and lattice strain of the prepared nanostructures. Owing to the strong quantum con nement effect, the WO 3 cube shaped nanoparticles with an optical band gap of 2.69 eV of the prepared nanoparticles showed excellent photocatalytic e cacy toward organic pollutant (Fast green FCF) compared to the web of chain nanostructures with an optical band gap of 2.66 eV. The mechanism has been discussed in detail in the respective section. The ability of the prepared systems to decompose the organic pollutant (Fast green FCF) in water was tested under visible light irradiations. The percentage degradation was found to be 94% and 86% for WO 3 cube shaped nanoparticles and WO 3 web of chains, respectively. The simplicity of the fabrication method and the high photocatalytic performance of the systems can be promising in environmental applications to treat water pollution.

Glutathione-Mediated Synthesis of WO3 Nanostructures with Controllable Morphology/Phase for Energy Storage, Photoconductivity, and Photocatalytic Applications

“…Further, Jamwal et al used the hydrothermal method to synthesize tungsten trioxide (WO 3 ) with two different surfactants (CTAB and TTS). The surfactants influenced the WO 3 crystal shape, forming chain-like structures with CTAB and cubes with TTS . Jaiswal et al reported a series of reactions to achieve WO 3 nanoribbon via hydrothermal reactions (24–48 h) at temperatures ranging from 120 °C (pale-yellow product) to 650 °C (greenish-yellow product) with an intermediate phase with pale-white at 350 °C .…”