Novel synthesis method of oxygen vacancy <scp>WO₃</scp> and its photocatalytic performance for degradation of rhodamine B

Abstract

Abstract BACKGROUND Photocatalytic degradation of organic pollution as a ‘green’ treatment technology has been a broad concern in water treatment. This work proposed a simple method for introducing oxygen vacancies into WO 3 and enhancing the degradation of WO 3 for rhodamine B under simulated solar light. RESULTS In this work, titanium power was used as an oxygen absorber to introduce oxygen vacancies into WO 3 . The degradation of organic dyes by semiconductor materials is significantly improved by the presence of oxygen vacancies. After 4 h of simulated sunlight irradiation, 100% degradation efficiency of rhodamine B by WO 3 with vacancies was achieved, compared to about 60% by WO 3 . Combined with liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry and total organic carbon analysis results, we speculated the degradation path of rhodamine B degraded by WO 3 ‐2. CONCLUSION There exist three reasons for the enhanced photocatalytic performance of oxygen‐containing vacancy WO 3 : (i) the introduction of vacancies generates an energy level of the donor that can reduce the band gap; (ii) the presence of oxygen vacancies can effectively prevent the electron–hole complexation process; and (iii) oxygen vacancies increase the adsorption capacity of the catalyst. It is expected that this method of oxygen vacancy introduction can be extended to other semiconductor systems to achieve higher performance in pollutant degradation and water remediation. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).