Effect of Deposition Temperature on the Growth of Tungsten Oxide Layer Deposited on Polyethylene Terephthalate Fibers

Abstract Photocatalytically active tungsten oxide (WO x ) layer were deposited on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibers using sol gel method in order to minimize the lost of WO x into flowing water during photocatalysis process. This helped to reduce the deterioration of photocatalytic performance of WO x over time as well as the formation of secondary pollutant by WO x particles. In this work, the optimum deposition condition of WO x layer was achieved using 90 C deposition temperature. The photocatalytic activity of WO x layer in removal of Rhodamine B (RhB) dye followed first order kinetics. As much as 60.04%, and 32.18% of RhB dyes were removed using WO x layer grown on PET surface under UV light and visible light irradiation, respectively. Under UV light exposure and continuous circulation of RhB solution with a flow rate of 35 mL/min, the wastewater purifier loaded with WO x layer based PET fibre showed 54.18% photodegradation efficiency. The repeated cycles of single WO x layer on PET fibers upon photodegradation of RhB observed good stability and reusability. Scavenger tests indicated that the holes and hydroxyl radicals were the dominant reactive species in photocatalytic degradation of RhB dye. Based on these findings, the photodegradation mechanism of RhB dye by WO x layer was proposed.