A Facile Synthesis of Graphene-WO3 Nanowire Clusters with High Photocatalytic Activity for O2 Evolution. (24th July 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhou, M.-J.; Zhang, N.; Hou, Z. H.
• Other Names: Puma Gianluca Li Academic Editor.
• Is Part Of: International journal of photoenergy. Volume 2014(2014)
• Publication Date: 2014-07-24
• Subjects: Photochemistry -- Periodicals; Photobiology -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Physical and theoretical -- Periodicals; Photochimie; Photobiologie; Chimie physique et théorique; Chemistry, Physical and theoretical; Photobiology; Photochemistry; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 541.35
• DOI: 10.1155/2014/943537
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1110-662X

Abstract

Abstract : In the present work, graphene-WO3 nanowire clusters were synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method. The obtained graphene-WO3 nanowire clusters were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy, and ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) techniques. The photocatalytic oxygen (O2 ) evolution properties of the as-synthesized samples were investigated by measuring the amount of evolved O2 from water splitting. The graphene-WO3 nanowire clusters exhibited enhanced performance compared to pure WO3 nanowire clusters for O2 evolution. The amount of evolved O2 from water splitting after 8 h for the graphene-WO3 nanowire clusters is ca. 0.345 mmol/L, which is more than 1.9 times as much as that of the pure WO3 nanowire clusters ( ca. 0.175 mmol/L). The high photocatalytic activity of the graphene-WO3 nanowire clusters was attributed to a high charge transfer rate in the presence of graphene.