Preparation of platinum-loaded cubic tungsten oxide: A highly efficient visible light-driven photocatalyst

Multistructural tungsten oxide samples were prepared using the hydrothermal method in the presence of different sulfates. In this paper, we present WO3 nanorods, WO3 toothpicks and cubic WO3 samples prepared in the presence of Na2SO4, U2SO4 and FeSO4, respectively. These catalysts were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, EDS and UV-vis DR. It is found that Fe2O3 was impregnated in the cubic WO3 which is different from other two samples. After Pt loading, Pt-loaded WO3 with different morphology acting as novel visible light-driven photocatalysts showed remarkably high photocatalytic activity under visible light radiation. Significantly, the maximum efficiency of photodegradation was observed at 1 wt.% Pt loading amount in the cubic WO3 sample. The highest photocatalytic activity of the cubic Pt/Fe2O3/WO3 photocatalyst is attributed to the synergistic action of Pt nanoparticles and Fe2O3. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.