Photocatalytic Activity of Cuboid WO₃ Rods Loaded with AgCl Nanoparticles Under Visible Light Irradiation

Monoclinic WO₃ (m-WO₃ crystals with cuboid rods were used as the substrate to synthesize AgCl/m-WO₃ photocatalysts, and the effects of the AgCl contents and photoreduction times on their visible-light-driven photocatalytic performance were investigated. The techniques of XRD, SEM, EDX and N₂ adsorption—desorption were used to characterized the compositions, phases and microstructures of the samples. Photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B (rhB), methyl orange (MO) and methyl blue (MB) were carried out to evaluate the photocatalytic activity of AgCl/m-WO₃ under visible-light irradiation (λ ≥ 420 nm). Among such catalysts, the AgCl (30 wt%)/m-WO₃ exhibits the highest visible-light-responsible photoactivity. The results indicated that the AgCl/m-WO₃ photocatalyst has a higher photodegradation rate than m-WO₃ and TiO₂ (P25). However, these AgCl/m-WO₃ materials gradually lost their photoactivity in the cycling photacatalytic tests. The related mechanisms for both the enhance photocatalytic activity and deactivation of the photocatalysts were analyzed.