Characterization and Comparison of WO₃ with Hybrid WO₃-MoO₃ and TiO₂ with Hybrid TiO₂-ZnO Nanostructures as Photoanodes

Abstract

Tungsten oxide (WO3) and zinc oxide (ZnO) are n-type semiconductors with numerous applications in photocatalysis. The objective of this study was to synthesize and characterize different types of nanostructures (WO3, WO3-Mo, TiO2, and TiO2-ZnO) for a comparison of hybrid and pure nanostructures to use them as a photoanodes for hydrogen production. With the aim of comparing the properties of both samples, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and confocal laser-Raman spectroscopy have been employed to study the morphology and composition and crystallinity, respectively. Finally, water splitting tests were conducted to compare the photoelectrochemical properties of the photoanodes.

Keywords

• nanostructures
• hybrid nanostructures
• WO₃
• TiO₂
• water splitting
• emerging contaminants