Enhanced light-driven water splitting by fast electron transfer in 2D/2D reduced graphene oxide/tungsten trioxide heterojunction with preferential facets

Abstract In this work, 2D/2D tungsten trioxide (WO3) plates/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) heterojunction was prepared by combining the (002) faceted WO3 with RGO nanosheets. An enhanced photocatalytic efficiency of O2 evolution was achieved due to the uncovering electronegative oxygen atoms, which results in the enhancement of photo-induced charge carrier separation efficiency. The 3 wt% RGO/WO3 heterojunctions display significantly the increase of O2 production, which is 3.9 and 7.3 times higher than those of WO3 nanoplates with preferential (002) facets and commercial WO3. The strategy could provide an efficient approach for the fabrication of graphene-based metal oxide hybrids with exposed facets towards high photocatalytic performance.