Tungsten Oxide Nanoplate Film as a Highly Active Solar-Driven Photocatalyst

Title:Tungsten Oxide Nanoplate Film as a Highly Active Solar-Driven Photocatalyst

Volume: 11 Issue: 4

Author(s): Chin Wei Lai

Affiliation:

Keywords: Electrochemical anodization, photoelectrochemical, solar-illumination, WO₃ nanoplate.

Abstract: A WO₃ nanoplate-like film with an average edge width of approximately 20 nm and thickness of approximately 250 nm was fabricated via electrochemical anodization of W film at 60 V in a bath with electrolytes composed of ethylene glycol and 0.7 wt% NH₄F. The influence of applied potential on the morphology of the anodic oxide was investigated. The growth of the nanoplate-like morphology might be attributed to the competition between electrochemical oxide formation and chemical etching by the corrosive [WF_n]^(n-6) complex ions at minimal applied potential of 60 V. In addition, the presence of tungstite (WO₃H₂O) with an orthorhombic structure was observed within the WO3 nanoplate-like film, which has a layered structure with sheets of distorted W–O octahedral units sharing corners. All of the anodic WO₃ nanostructured films were annealed and their electrochemical ability was investigated under solarillumination. A maximum photocurrent density of 1.50 mA/cm² was observed for the WO₃ nanoplate-like film because more incident photons could be harvested to generate photo-induced charge carriers under solar-illumination.

Cite this article as:

Wei Lai Chin, Tungsten Oxide Nanoplate Film as a Highly Active Solar-Driven Photocatalyst, Current Nanoscience 2015; 11 (4) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1573413711666150202233657