Photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B and methylene blue dyes using tungsten oxide/barium titanate nanocomposite

Abstract

Photocatalysis has emerged as a significant approach for tackling environmental challenges, particularly in removing dye pollutants from water. However, a major obstacle to enhancing the efficiency of photocatalysts is the fast recombination of charge carriers, which hampers the degradation of pollutants. Here, we present a novel hybrid photocatalyst composed of BaTiO<inf>3</inf> nanoparticles and WO<inf>3</inf> nanorods, designed to enhance the dye degradation in visible light. Our study shows that the sample with 5.0 wt% BaTiO<inf>3</inf> (W/BT5) demonstrates significantly better performance than pure WO<inf>3</inf>, BaTiO<inf>3</inf>, and all other composites. W/BT5 enhances the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) by 1.25 times and methylene blue (MB) by 1.38 times compared to WO<inf>3</inf> alone. This improvement is attributed to the well-aligned band structures, which promote effective separation and movement of the photogenerated charge carriers. Our findings introduce a new strategy for boosting the activity of photocatalysts through hybrid composites, paving the way for more efficient environmental remediation technologies. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025.