Fabrication and Characterization of Highly Efficient As-Synthesized WO<sub>3</sub>/Graphitic-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub> Nanocomposite for Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Compounds
Mai S. A. Hussien,
Abdelfatteh Bouzidi,
Hisham S. M. Abd-Rabboh,
Ibrahim S. Yahia,
Heba Y. Zahran,
Mohamed Sh. Abdel-wahab,
Walaa Alharbi,
Nasser S. Awwad,
Medhat A. Ibrahim
Affiliations
Mai S. A. Hussien
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams University, Roxy, Cairo 11757, Egypt
Abdelfatteh Bouzidi
Laboratory of Materials for Energy and Environment, and Modeling (LMEEM), Faculty of Sciences of Sfax, University of Sfax, B.P. 1171, Sfax 3038, Tunisia
Hisham S. M. Abd-Rabboh
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia
Ibrahim S. Yahia
Laboratory of Nano-Smart Materials for Science and Technology (LNSMST), Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia
Heba Y. Zahran
Laboratory of Nano-Smart Materials for Science and Technology (LNSMST), Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia
Mohamed Sh. Abdel-wahab
Materials Science and Nanotechnology Department, Faculty of Postgraduate Studies for Advanced Sciences, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef 62511, Egypt
Walaa Alharbi
Department of Chemistry, Science and Arts College, Rabigh Campus, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80200, Jeddah 21589 , Saudi Arabia
Nasser S. Awwad
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia
Medhat A. Ibrahim
Nanotechnology Research Centre (NTRC), The British University in Egypt (BUE), Suez Desert Road, El-Sherouk City 11837, Cairo, Egypt
The incorporation of tungsten trioxide (WO3) by various concentrations of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) was successfully studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and Diffused Reflectance UV-Vis techniques were applied to investigate morphological and microstructure analysis, diffused reflectance optical properties, and photocatalysis measurements of WO3/g-C3N4 photocatalyst composite organic compounds. The photocatalytic activity of incorporating WO3 into g-C3N4 composite organic compounds was evaluated by the photodegradation of both Methylene Blue (MB) dye and phenol under visible-light irradiation. Due to the high purity of the studied heterojunction composite series, no observed diffraction peaks appeared when incorporating WO3 into g-C3N4 composite organic compounds. The particle size of the prepared composite organic compound photocatalysts revealed no evident influence through the increase in WO3 atoms from the SEM characteristic. The direct and indirect bandgap were recorded for different mole ratios of WO3/g-C3N4, and indicated no apparent impact on bandgap energy with increasing WO3 content in the composite photocatalyst. The composite photocatalysts’ properties better understand their photocatalytic activity degradations. The pseudo-first-order reaction constants (K) can be calculated by examining the kinetic photocatalytic activity.
