Activated carbon immobilized WO3 nanocuboids: Adsorption/photocatalysis synergy for the enhanced removal of organic pollutants

Herein, we fabricated activated carbon (AC) immobilized WO3 nanocuboids (AC-WO3) as an efficient and green photocatalyst via simple hydrothermal method. AC-WO3 shows great potential for the removal of stable rho-damine B (RhB) dye in aqueous solution under visible light. The large surface area of the AC-WO3 nano composites brought numerous active sites for the adsorption, consequently, for photodegradation of RhB dye. The characterization results established that the prepared material has crystalline orthorhombic structure, nanosized cuboids shape like morphology, visible light responsive nature, thermo stability and smaller particle size with high specific surface area. Adsorption isotherm studies revealed homogeneous surface adsorption with Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Study on adsorption kinetics confirms that adsorption of dye on AC-WO3 follows the second order kinetic model. AC-WO3 nanocomposites exhibit enhancing synergistic effect of adsorption and photodegradation ability for removing RhB in aqueous solution.