Facile synthesis of novel CoWO₄/FeWO₄ hetrocomposite with efficient visible light photocatalytic degradation and hydrogen evolution aspects

ABSTRACT

Tungstate-based nanomaterials exhibit efficient photocatalytic performance and offer several advantages owing to their electrical and superior optical features, charge transport potentials, and superb corrosion resistance. The objective of the present study is to fabricate cobalt tungstate (CoWO₄), Ferric tungstate (FeWO₄) and CoWO₄/FeWO₄ heterojunction composite photocatalysts using a hydrothermal route with various molar concentrations (2:1, 1:1, 1:2, 1:5). The model pollutant Methyl Orange (MO) and Congo Red (CR) azo dyes were degraded 98.26% and 99.61% in 150 min by the as-synthesized CoWO₄/FeWO₄ at a molar concentration ratio of 1:2. A feasible photodegradation mechanism is purposed and the optimum values for different parameters are also evaluated by considering two different dyes as model organic pollutants. Hydrogen production efficiency reaches up to 36 μmolg⁻¹ h⁻¹ under visible light over 1:2 CoWO₄/FeWO₄. This work may open new possibilities for the use of CoWO₄/FeWO₄ composite for potential applications such as the hydrothermal synthesis of composites and their photocatalytic wastewater remedy and as hydrogen evolution applications.

KEYWORDS:

• Hydrothermal route
• photocatalysis
• CoWO₄/FeWO₄
• Methyl Orange (MO)
• Congo Red (CR)
• photoluminance

Acknowledgements

The synthesis experiments were carried out at the Government College University in Faisalabad, Pakistan. Dr. Zhengjun Zhang, Advanced Key Laboratory for New Ceramics, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, 100084, assisted with characterization techniques.

Author contributions

The manuscript was written through the contributions of all authors. All authors have approved the final version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability

Data is available within the manuscript.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by the State Scholarship Fund of China Scholarship Council (grant number 201808410144), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 51202107), and the Foundation of Henan Educational Committee (grant number 20A480003).