Abstract:
Excessive use of fossil fuels has caused a lot of environmental damage so they must be
replaced with sustainable energy resources. Hydrogen has clean and renewable
properties so it can be used as a sustainable energy resource. Photocatalytic water
splitting is an efficient way of producing hydrogen but it requires an efficient
photocatalyst having high photochemical stability, efficient charge separation
capability, good light harvesting properties and suitable band gap. Tungsten oxide has
suitable properties for photocatalytic water splitting but it suffers from recombination
of photogenerated charge carriers. Herein, different composites of tungsten with
transition metal borides and oxides of copper and nickel have been successfully
synthesized by precipitation method. FTIR studies, XRD analysis and SEM of the
prepared composites, WO3-NiCoB, WO3-CuO-NiO, WO3-NiB and WO3-CuO-NiB
have been done for detection of functional group, investigation of crystalline and
structural properties, and study of the surface morphology of prepared composites. The
photocatalytic activity of WO3, WO3-CuO-NiO and WO3-NiCoB has measured by
photodegradation of AO-II. The results of activity showed that WO3-NiCoB worked
better in photodegradation of AO-II in comparison to its other counterparts, WO3 and
WO3-CuO-NiO
