Electrospun tungsten trioxide nanofibers decorated with palladium oxide nanoparticles exhibiting enhanced photocatalytic activity

Abstract

Tungsten trioxide (WO₃) based nanofibers have many advantages as photocatalysts due to its band gap which fits with readily accessible light sources. We successfully fabricated novel palladium oxide (PdO) particles decorated WO₃ nanofibers by electrospinning combined with chemical deposition processes, leading to improved photocatalytic efficiency for organic dye degradation up to 86.4%. Morphologies, elemental compositions and structural analyses confirmed the successful uniform decoration of PdO particles along WO₃ nanofibers. Photodegradation of methylene blue as a model pollutant in water media was performed under UV and visible light in the presence of fabricated nanofibers as a photocatalyst. As a result, improved photocatalytic activity by PdO decoration was observed compared to commercially available WO₃ NFs without PdO, attributed to its ability to hold excited electrons and increase surface area of NFs. This fibrous hybrid catalytic materials platform will open up a new and practical route and stimulate further research to improve photocatalytic performance.