Enhanced photocatalytic property of graphene oxide/TiO2 hybrids with WO3 quantum dots

ABSTRACTTo improve the photocatalytic activity and endow graphene oxide/TiO2 (GO/TiO2) hybrid with the optical storage ability, WO3 quantum dots (WO3 QDs) were used to modify GO/TiO2 hybrids by sol-gel method, and then the resultant WO3 QDs-GO/TiO2 hybrids were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Experimental results show that WO3 QDs can significantly ameliorate the photocatalytic performance of GO/TiO2 hybrids under visible light, which the reaction rate of WO3 QDs-GO/TiO2 hybrids is about 17 times as much as that of GO/TiO2 hybrids. What's more, WO3 QDs-GO/TiO2 hybrids possess optical memory performance.