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Metastable h-WO3 nano-hemitubes: controllable synthesis and superior adsorption–photocatalysis–oxidation activity for high-concentrated MB

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Abstract

Novel metastable h-WO3 nano-hemitubes have been controllably prepared on a large scale assisted by inorganic structure directing agent of (NH4)2C2O4 through a convenient and facile hydrothermal route. The chemical composition, morphology, crystal structure, surface area and optical property of as-obtained products were investigated using various characterization techniques. Interestingly, it was found that the introduction and the adding amount of (NH4)2C2O4 played an important role in the process of controlling the phase and morphology of WO3. An appropriate amount of (NH4)2C2O4 (10–14 mmol) was beneficial for inducing the formation of metastable h-WO3 nano-hemitubes. However, monoclinic m-WO3 square-shaped nanoplates were obtained by adding 2 mmol (NH4)2C2O4. The results of photoluminescence (PL) test demonstrated that h-WO3 nano-hemitubes has a lower recombination rate of photogenerated electron–hole pairs and a longer lifetime of photogenerated carriers. Due to the special structure, the prepared one-dimensional h-WO3 nano-hemitubes displayed very superior adsorption–photocatalysis–oxidation activity for removing MB from highly concentrated MB-containing wastewater, which was 6.1 times higher than that of two-dimensional monoclinic m-WO3 square-shaped nanoplates. The mechanism of adsorption–photocatalysis–oxidation degradation for MB on h-WO3 nano-hemitubes was simply proposed. The prepared h-WO3 nano-hemitubes may have a potential application in wastewater purification and environmental remediation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Open Foundation of Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Advanced Building Materials (JZCL002KF), the Key Projects of Support Program for Outstanding Young Talents in Colleges and Universities of Anhui Province (gxyqZD2016151) and the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Educational Committee (KJ2014ZD08).

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  1. Key Laboratory of Functional Molecule Design and Interface Process, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei, 230601, People’s Republic of China

    Hanmei Hu, Kangzhe Ding, Hong Yu, Yunyun He & Mingdi Yang

  2. Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Advanced Building Materials, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei, 230601, People’s Republic of China

    Hanmei Hu

  3. Department of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Hanseo University, Seosan, 31962, Republic of Korea

    Won-Chun Oh

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Hu, H., Ding, K., Yu, H. et al. Metastable h-WO3 nano-hemitubes: controllable synthesis and superior adsorption–photocatalysis–oxidation activity for high-concentrated MB. J. Korean Ceram. Soc. 60, 227–237 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43207-022-00211-2

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