TY - JOUR ID - 95708 TI - Mesoporous WO3/TiO2 Nanocomposites Photocatalyst for Rapid Degradation of Methylene Blue in Aqueous Medium JO - International Journal of Engineering JA - IJE LA - en SN - 1025-2495 AU - Wahyuono, Ruri AU - Ernawati, Lusi AU - Maharsih, Inggit Kresna AU - Widiastuti, Nurul AU - Widiyandari, Hendri AD - Department of Engineering Physics, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya AD - Department of Chemical Engineering, Institut Teknologi Kalimantan, Indonesia AD - Department of Chemistry, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya AD - Department of Physics, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, Indonesia Y1 - 2019 PY - 2019 VL - 32 IS - 10 SP - 1345 EP - 1352 KW - Kinetic KW - Nanocomposite KW - photocatalyst KW - TiO2 KW - WO3 DO - 10.5829/ije.2019.32.10a.02 N2 - This paper presents the wet chemical synthesis of WO3/TiO2 nanocomposites using hydrothermally prepared monoclinic WO3 and anatase TiO2 nanoparticles as composite matrices and filler, respectively. The nanocomposites were prepared in different compositions, i.e. WO3:TiO2 ratio (w/w) of (1:1), (1:3), and (3:1). Physicochemical properties of the resultant WO3/TiO2 nanocomposites were evaluated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), BET N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, UV/vis, and Raman spectroscopy. The resultant nanocomposites exhibited a mesoporous structure with specific surface area of up to 11.5 m2 g-1, where TiO2 constituent contributed to higher surface area, especially in (1:3) ratio, and higher number of defect sites. While there was no impurities in the investigated nanocomposites as revealed by XRD analysis and Raman spectra, the WO3:TiO2 (1:3) nanocomposites showed the highest light harvesting ability indicated by higher absorption amplitude in both UV and visible regime. Three different kinetic models including pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second order, and Langmuir-Hinshelwood were applied to experimental data. The pseudo-second-order was found to be the best representing model and the adsorption kinetic studies indicated that chemisorption initially dominated the degradation mechanism. Finally, photocatalytic activity of nanocomposites was compared for photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) aqueous medium and in a good agreement with physicochemical properties, WO3:TiO2 (1:3) nanocomposites yielded the highest MB degradation rate (k ~ 0.162 min-1) and efficiency (96%) within 120 min under UV irradiation.   UR - https://www.ije.ir/article_95708.html L1 - https://www.ije.ir/article_95708_8857880ed6ca4f89df98762abad62e64.pdf ER -