Hierarchical WO3 microflowers with tailored oxygen vacancies for boosting photocatalytic dye degradation

Herein, hierarchical WO3 microflowers with tailored oxygen vacancies, newly fabricated by a facile chemical bath deposition integrating H2-reduction route, exhibiting the remarkably boosted activity toward visible-light-driven photocatalytic dye degradation such as rhodamine B and methyl orange. The origin accounting for the remarkably boosted activity can be readily ascribed to the integrated factors of unique hierarchical microflowers and oxygen vacancies that contributed to the enhanced visible-light absorbance, the narrowed band gap, and the retarded photoelectron-hole recombination ability. Besides, this photocatalyst also presents an excellent recycling performance due to its robust hierarchical structure and stable crystal phase, showing significant potential in future applications. It is anticipated that this work can shed bright light on developing high-efficient photocatalysts toward visible-light-driven photocatalytic pollutant cleaning.