Abstract
In this research, tungsten oxide (WO
3
), silver oxide (Ag
2
O), and Ag
2
O/WO
3
nanocomposites were synthesised by precipitation and sonication method, respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and UV-Visible spectroscopy were used to confirm the structural, spectral, morphological, and optical properties of as-synthesised samples, respectively. The as-prepared Ag
2
O/WO
3
nanocomposite showed improved photocatalytic degradation activity for rhodamine B and methylene blue under solar light compared to pristine WO
3
and Ag
2
O. The percentage degradation values were 79.6%, 86.1% and 90.8% for WO
3
, Ag
2
O and Ag
2
O/WO
3
nanocomposite for methylene blue and 70.9%, 80.7% and 87.25% for rhodamine B. One of the possible reasons behind this improved photocatalytic degradation was decreased recombination of photo-generated holes and electrons due to the formation of nanocomposite between WO
3
and Ag
2
O. Optical band gap values for WO
3
, Ag
2
O and Ag
2
O/WO
3
nanocomposite were 2.93 eV, 1.59 eV and 1.38 eV, respectively. The Mott-Schottky plot confirmed the formation of nanocomposite and p-type and n-type behaviour of Ag
2
O and WO
3
, respectively.