Ag2O-decorated WO3 nanorods synthesized by soft-template-aided solvothermal route for endorsed visible-light photoreduction of CO2 into methanol

In this work, a solvothermal process with occurrence of mixed surfactants is applied to produce silver oxide (Ag2O)-supported tungsten trioxide (WO3) nanorods. The produced nanocomposites exhibit an extended visible -light harvesting by Ag2O decoration from 1.0 to 4.0 wt% with a bandgap of 1.96 eV compared to 2.83 eV for pure WO3. The surface textural analysis proved the formation of mesostructured nanocomposites with surface area range of 203-219 m2g-1. The as-synthesized nanostructures were applied for the photoreduction of CO2 to methanol (CH3OH). The tuned dose of 2.0 gL-1 3% Ag2O/WO3 has generated 174.4 & mu;mol g-1 h-1 CH3OH under visible light illumination. These innovative Ag2O-decorated WO3 nanorods also display photocatalytic stability in five cycles. The magnificent photoactivity of this photocatalyst is attributed to the improved charge separation by the synergetic impact of controlled Ag2O inclusion. The presented work proposes the ability of metal oxide p-n heterojunctions for visible light CO2 utilization.