Fabrication of Ag NPs decorated TiO2/WO3 S-scheme heterojunction for efficiently mineralizing gaseous toluene

The energy band structure and corresponding carrier transfer efficiency are crucial roles in photocatalysis performance, especially involving the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) degradation in gas-solid phase photocatalytic systems. Herein, we reported a S-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst of Ag@WO 3 /TiO 2 . The photocatalytic experiments display that Ag@WO 3 /TO 2 (denoted as Ag@h-WT) possesses almost 94 % of toluene removal rate and nearly 90 % mineralization after 60 min irradiation under simulated sunlight, superior to those of pure TiO 2 and h-WO 3 as well as binary WO 3 /TO 2 heterojunction. The improved photocatalytic activity is mainly ascribed to i) the formation of S-scheme heterojunction. ii) The Ag nanoclusters promotes the carrier separation and broadens the light absorption region. ● The oxidation capacity of WO 3 /TiO 2 (S-scheme) is better retained. ● The deep mineralization of toluene is achieved by further promoting carrier separation through Ag NPs. ● Ag NPs broadens the photo-response region of the catalyst. ● The degradation mechanism of toluene was investigated.