Reduced graphene oxide three-dimensionally wrapped WO₃ hierarchical nanostructures as high-performance solar photocatalytic materials

A unique reduced graphene oxide (RGO) three-dimensionally wrapped WO₃ (WO₃@RGO) composite was synthesized via a facile one-step hydrothermal method. In this composite, the building blocks of the WO₃ hierarchical structure, the nanobelts, were intimately wrapped by a layer of RGO. Due to the synergistic effect of the hierarchical structure of WO₃ and intimately wrapped RGO on the surface of the nanobelts, the WO₃@RGO showed much higher photocatalytic performance in degrading rhodamine B and phenol under simulated solar light irradiation than the bare WO₃ and other composites in which only the mainframe of WO₃ was wrapped by RGO. Moreover, the photocatalytic activity was significantly influenced by the loading amount of RGO. The optimal performance was found in the 1.2% WO₃@RGO, which was about 2.50 times that of the bare WO₃. Conclusively, using graphene to wrap the building blocks rather than only the mainframe of semiconductors is anticipated to be a promising method to achieve high-performance photocatalysts for solar energy conversion.