Mesoporous cobalt-intercalated layered tantalotungstate with high visible-light photocatalytic activity

Abstract Cobalt-intercalated layered tantalotungstates as high visible-light active photocatalysts have been assembled by tantalotungstatete nanosheets with cobalt ions via an exfoliation–restacking route. It was revealed that the as-prepared nanohybrids are mesoporous with specific surface areas more than 35 m 2 /g and that the cobalt element in the materials is bivalent. The mesopores with average pore diameters of about 4.0 nm are originated from the house-of-cards-type stacking of the intercalated crystallites. Introducing cobalt ions into the interlayered region endowed the nanohybrids with distinct spectral responses in visible-light region, resulted from the hybridization of metal d and f orbits in conduction band to narrow the band gap. The intercalated nanohybrids exhibit high photocatalytic activities in the degradation of methylene blue under visible-light irradiation.