Construct novel day-night dual reaction centers WO3-FePc photocatalyst for multipollutant degradation

Abstract

In this article, we presented a novel WO₃-FePc day-night dual reaction centers photocatalyst covalently modified by iron-tetra (N-carbonylacrylic) aminephthalocyanine (FePc), in which WO₃ as an electron-storage reservoir and FePc as a photosensitizer and Fenton reaction center, which synergistically improve photocatalytic activity. The photocatalytic performance of WO₃-FePc was evaluated using Rhodamine B (RhB) as a model pollutant, and it exhibited remarkable efficiency, with degradation of 93.0% RhB achieved under visible light irradiation for 60 min, and 40.4% RhB degraded in the dark, corresponding to approximately 12.4 times the performance of WO₃ and 7.8 times that of FePc. In addition, the removal rates of methylene blue (MB), tetracycline hydrochloride (TC•HCl) and K₂Cr₂O₇ (Cr (VI)) by WO₃-FePc under visible light were 99.9%, 99.9% and 81.5% in 20 min, respectively. The rapid charge separation and the synergistic effect between the photocatalytic center and the Fenton center lead to excellent photocatalytic performance. This study prepared a highly efficient photocatalyst WO₃-FePc that can act continuously during both day and night, and its distinctive day-night dual reaction center provides a new way to overcome the limitations of traditional photocatalytic technology.