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Synthesis of W 17 O 47 nanothick plates with preferred orientation and their photocatalytic activity
Author(s) -
Azimirad R.,
Khosravi P.,
Moshfegh A. Z.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.3730
Subject(s) - x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , materials science , photocatalysis , monoclinic crystal system , annealing (glass) , diffraction , analytical chemistry (journal) , nuclear chemistry , crystallography , chemical engineering , composite material , chemistry , optics , crystal structure , catalysis , chromatography , biochemistry , physics , engineering
A simple method for synthesis of W 17 O 47 nanothick plates by annealing sol‐gel‐deposited tungsten oxide thin films on soda lime substrate has been reported. After heat treatment of the dried thin films at 700 °C in N 2 ambient for 60 min, W 17 O 47 nanothick plates with [100] orientation were obtained. The synthesized product was characterized and analyzed by, X‐ray diffraction (XRD), SEM, XPS and ultraviolet‐visible spectrophotometery. According to SEM observations, nanothick plates grew with random orientations on the surface. In addition, it was observed that some of the nanothick plates were constituted from several nanosheets. XRD analysis determined that the nanothick plates were mainly composed of monoclinic W 17 O 47 phase with strong (500) diffraction peak and about 50 nm average crystalline size. Basing on XPS analysis, the surface composition of the nanothick plates was determined WO 2.78 . It was found that the 60 min annealed sample has the maximum number of nanothick plates per unit area over the surface as compared to the samples annealed for 15, 45 and 80 min. In addition, the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue over this sample exhibited the highest photoactivity rate. A mechanism for photocatalytic activity of the W 17 O 47 nanothick plates was also proposed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.