Photocatalytic energy storage ability of TiO2-WO3 composite prepared by wet-chemical technique

TiO2-WO3 hybrid photocatalysts were prepared using wet-chemical technique, and their energy storage performance was characterized by electrochemical galvanostatic method. TiO2 powder was coupled with WO3 powder, which was used as electron pool and the reductive energy could be stored in. As a result, the prepared TiO2-WO3 had good energy storage ability while pure TiO2 showed no capacity and pure WO3 showed quite low performance. The energy storage ability was affected by the crystal structure of WO3 and calcination temperature. The photocatalyst had better capacity when WO3 had low degree of crystallinity, since its loose structure made it easier for electrons and cations to pass through. The photocatalytic energy storage performance was also affected by the molar ratio of TiO2 to WO3. Energy storage capacity was significantly dependent on the composition, reaching the maximum value at TiO2/WO3 1:1 (mol/mol).