Synthesis and comparative investigation of adsorption capability and photocatalytic activities of WO3 and W18O49

The adsorption experimental results show that W 18 O 49 with oxygen vacancies not only has faster adsorption rates for MB but also has larger adsorption capacities than WO 3 . Besides, the maximum adsorption capacity of urchin-like W 18 O 49 (375.94 mg/g) is about 2.76 times of WO 3 (136.25 mg/g). However, photocatalytic results revealed that WO 3 has better photocatalytic degradation ability than W 18 O 49 . Generally, the adsorption efficiency of urchin-like W 18 O 49 (70.01%) is about 3.94 times of WO 3 (17.78%), while the photodegradation efficiency of WO 3 (62.45%) is 2.38 times of urchin-like W 18 O 49 (26.20%). Therefore, urchin-like W 18 O 49 has the best total removal efficiency, which can remove 96.21% of MB (50 ml, 90 mg/L) within 120 min. These studies emphasize the comprehensive effects of WO 3 and W 18 O 49 on dye removal from two aspects of adsorption and photocatalysis and provide strategies for the preparation of efficient dye removal materials.