Excellent photocatalytic activity of ternary Ag@WO3@rGO nanocomposites under solar simulation irradiation

The ternary nanocomposite of Ag@WO3@rGO was synthesized via a two-step hydrothermal method in which the binary composite of the Ag-doped WO3 (Ag@WO3) prepared by the 1st hydrothermal step was combined with the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) via the ultrasonic-assisted 2nd hydrothermal step. The composition with Ag and rGO helped to reduce the optical bandgap energy of WO3, and thereby to enhance the photocatalytic activity of the WO3-based nanocomposites. When compared with the pristine WO3 sample under the solar simulation irradiation, the binary (Ag@WO3) nanocomposite showed the increased photocatalytic activity towards the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) from 23% (pristine WO3) to 80% (Ag@WO3). Notably, the ternary nanocomposite exhibited an excellent photo catalytic efficiency of RhB degradation (99.5%). The significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity was assigned to the combined synergy effects of the electron-reservoir of Ag and the highly absorptive r-GO with the visible-band gap WO3 semiconductors, which suggests a promising procedure to construct ternary nanocomposite-based high-performance photocatalysts under the solar light. (C) 2020 The Authors. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

Automated summary

The ternary nanocomposite of Ag@WO3@rGO was synthesized using a two-step hydrothermal method, showing excellent photocatalytic activity due to the synergistic effects of silver and rGO, providing a promising approach for high-performance photocatalysts.