Morphology Controllable Fabrication of Tungsten Oxide for Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance

Abstract

Exploring the morphology-property relationship is an important role in addressing the mechanism of hydrogen production. In this work, WO₃ photocatalysts with different morphology were prepared via a solvothermal method. Our first prepared porous WO₃ with the exposed (100) crystal plane, the WO₃ porous nano disk demonstrates a better photocatalytic activity, which is higher than the WO₃ nanorod, WO₃ nanoflower and WO₃ nano block. Further characterizations indicate the WO₃ porous nano disk exhibits high absorption capacity and active lattice structure. Meanwhile, with the introduction of non-noble metal Ni as the co-catalyst, the photocatalytic H₂ evolution was enhanced. This work reveals the importance of regulating surface atomic configuration and catalytic active sites, opens a new avenue for the development of solar-driven water splitting.