Enhancing the visible light induced photocatalytic properties of WO3 nanoparticles by doping with vanadium

In the present work, WO3 and vanadium doped WO3 (V:WO3) nanoparticles have been synthesized by an acid precipitation method. The synthesized nanomaterials have been characterized by XRD, FTIR, Raman, UV-DRS, SEM/EDS, XPES and PL spectral techniques. The XRD patterns confirmed the monoclinic phase for both of the synthesized products. The morphologies of the samples have been examined from SEM images, and EDS patterns revealed effective doping of vanadium into the host lattice of WO3. The structural features were corroborated by FTIR and Raman spectral studies. The absorption spectra indicate a decrease in band-gap energy upon doping, with a concomitant increase in Urbach energy. Defect states elicited in the energy levels of the doped sample have been observed through PL analysis. The XPS pattern of the doped sample shows a shift in band-edge position compared with that of pristine WO3. Visible light driven photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) has been studied by varying the catalyst loading and the concentration of RhB. The results showed that the dye was effectively degraded upon irradiation in the visible region. The photodegradation efficiency of WO3 nanoparticles was improved from 68% to 93% upon doping with vanadium.