Surfactants assisted synthesis of WO3 nanoparticles with improved photocatalytic and antibacterial activity: A strong impact of morphology

In this paper, the surfactants assisted WO3 nanoparticles were synthesized by a chemical co-precipitation method. The physical and chemical properties of the synthesized samples were characterized by XRD, HR-SEM, HR-TEM, XPS, FTIR and UV–Vis spectra. XRD spectra confirmed the exhibited monoclinic phase of prepared samples. HR-SEM and HR-TEM analysis determined the morphological properties of WO3 nanoparticles. The XPS and EDS spectra confirmed the presence of the W and O. FTIR spectra revealed the functional groups of monoclinic phase WO3 NPs. The CTAB-assisted WO3 nanoplates exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity and provided 97% of MB dye degradation within 120 mins. It was found that CTAB-WO3 nanoplates betrayed the highest rate constant of 0.03004 min−1. Also, CTAB-assisted WO3 nanoplates showed excellent antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus bacteria at a higher concentration of 100 μg/mL. As a result, CTAB-assisted WO3 nanoplates could be used as a potential candidate for photocatalytic and antibacterial activity.