Synthesis of tungsten oxide as visible light-driven photocatalyst for removal of salicylic acid

Abstract

In the present study, tungsten oxide (WO3) was prepared using mesoporous carbon nitride (m-C3N4) as a template. Based on the results obtained from X-ray diffraction (XRD) and diffuse reflectance (DR) UV-Visible spectroscopy, it was confirmed that WO3 can be successfully prepared at all investigated calcination temperatures, even at low temperature of 200°C. It was found that the WO3 prepared at 700°C using m-C3N4 showed higher photocatalytic activity than the WO3 commercial for salicylic acid removal under visible light irradiation. With the optimum loading amount of platinum as cocatalyst, 80.6% of salicylic acid removal was obtained on the prepared WO3. It was suggested that the small particle size and the high crystallinity of the prepared WO3 played important role in giving high photocatalytic activity.