Green synthesis and catalytic function of tungsten oxide nanoparticles

In this paper, a green chemical synthetic route was developed to synthesize WO3 nanoparticles with an average size of 70 nm. The products were characterized in detail by multiform techniques: X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The photoluminescence of the obtained WO3 nanoparticles was also investigated. The effects of the hydrothermal temperature on the crystalline phase and morphology of the products have been studied systematically. The photocatalytic activity of the samples was evaluated by photocatalytic decolorization of methylene blue (MB) aqueous solution. The electrocatalytic activity was characterized using voltammetric techniques. The results showed that the obtained WO3 nanoparticles have an excellent photocatalytic and electrocatalytic performance for the MB.