Hydrothermal synthesis of WO3 nanoplates as highly sensitive cyclohexene sensor and high-efficiency MB photocatalyst

In this paper, triclinic WO3 nanoplates with prominent cyclohexene sensing and photocatalytic properties were fabricated via a facile hydrothermal method assisted with p-aminobenzoic acid. The as-prepared product was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). XRD, SEM and TEM images illustrated that the WO3 nanoplates have a triclinic phase with the length of 100-200 nm and the thickness of 50-80 nm. The gas sensing properties of the WO3 nanoplates were measured by detection of methanol, ethanol, cyclohexane, benzene, ethyl acetate and acetone at 160-300 degrees C, and their photocatalytic activities were investigated by the degradation of methyl blue (MB). The as-prepared product exhibited not only excellent photocatalytic property for the degradation of MB, but also high response (1000 ppm of cyclohexene, R-a/R-g = 140) and excellent selectivity for the detection of cyclohexene. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.