Enhanced photocatalytic performance of tungsten-based photocatalysts for degradation of volatile organic compounds: a review

Photocatalytic oxidation process for the degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) contaminants is a promising technology. But until now, the low photocatalytic activity of the conventional TiO2 photocatalyst under visible-light irradiation hinders the deployment of this technique for VOCs degradation. WO3 has been proved to be a suitable photocatalytic material for degradation of various VOCs as its appropriate band-gap, high stability and great capability. Nevertheless, the actual implementation of WO3 is still restricted by short lifetime of photoexcited charge carriers and low light energy conversion efficiency: its photocatalytic performance is needed to be improved. This review discusses the process of tungsten-based photocatalyst for removal of VOCs and summarizes a variety of strategies to improve the VOCs oxidation performances of WO3, such as controlling the morphology structure, engendering chemical defects, coupling heterojunction, doping suitable dopants and loading a co-catalyst. In addition, the practical application of tungsten-based photocatalyst is discussed.