Solar photocatalytic activity of TiO2 modified with WO3 on the degradation of an organophosphorus pesticide.

In this study, the solar photocatalytic activity (SPA) of WO3/TiO2 photocatalysts synthesized by the sol-gel method with two different percentages of WO3 (2 and 5%wt) was evaluated using malathion as a model contaminant. For comparative purpose bare TiO2 was also prepared by sol-gel process. The powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance UV-vis spectroscopy (DRUV-vis), specific surface area by the BET method (SSABET), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and scanning transmission electron microscopy with a high annular angle dark field detector (STEM-HAADF). The XRD, Raman, HRTEM and STEM-HAADF analyses indicated that WO3 was present as a monoclinic crystalline phase with nanometric cluster sizes (1.1 ± 0.1 nm for 2% WO3/TiO2 and 1.35 ± 0.3 nm for 5% WO3/TiO2) and uniformly dispersed on the surface of TiO2. The particle size of the materials was 19.4 ± 3.3 nm and 25.6 ± 3 nm for 2% and 5% WO3/TiO2, respectively. The SPA was evaluated on the degradation of commercial malathion pesticide using natural solar light. The 2% WO3/TiO2 photocatalyst exhibited the best photocatalytic activity achieving 76% of total organic carbon (TOC) abatement after 300 min compared to the 5% WO3/TiO2 and bare TiO2 photocatalysts, which achieved 28 and 47% mineralization, respectively. Finally, experiments were performed to assess 2% WO3/TiO2 catalyst activity on repeated uses; after several successive cycles its photocatalytic activity was retained showing long-term stability.