Sunlight Photocatalytic Activity Enhancement of WO3/ZnO Nanorod Composites for Degradation of Bisphenol A

Nanoscaled WO3 particles coated on ZnO nanorod composites were fabricated through combining hydrothermal technique with chemical precipitation process. The configuration, crystal structure and element composition of the as-prepared WO3/ZnO nanorods were characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM) along with a high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV– Visible (UV-Vis) absorption spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The results indicated that pure monoclinic WO3 nanoparticles were distributed on the surfaces of ZnO nanorods and attached strongly. Particularly, the optical properties as well as photocatalytic characteristics of pure ZnO nanorods and WO3/ZnO nanorods were also examined. The absorption of WO3/ZnO nanorods was red shifted due to effective immobilization of WO3 on ZnO nanorods. In contrast with the pure ZnO nanorods, the WO3/ZnO nanorods showed excellent photocatalytic activity by using bisphenol A (BPA) as a model substrate under sunlight irradiation. It was worth nothing that the cooperative photocatalytic mechanism of WO3/ZnO nanorod composites was also discussed. Keywords-zinc oxide; tungsten oxide; nanorod; sunlight; photocatalytic; bisphenol A