Direct growth and photoelectrochemical properties of tungsten oxide nanobelt arrays

A single-step route was developed for the direct growth of tungsten oxide nanobelt arrays by heating a tungsten sheet without additional catalysts or reactants. X-ray diffraction and Raman analysis indicated that the tungsten oxide nanobelts were monoclinic. The surface photovoltage signal and photocurrent density of the tungsten oxide nanobelt arrays clearly suggested a high photoconversion ability. Further investigation demonstrated that the photoelectrocatalytic activity of the nanobelt arrays was higher than that of a tungsten oxide film when using phenol as the probe molecule.