We have developed a new visible light responsive photocatalytic material by combining tungsten disulfide (WS₂), a nanosheet semiconductor material that has attracted much attention in recent years, gold nanoparticles that strongly absorb visible light, and titanium dioxide (TiO₂), a highly active photocatalyst¹. Ultrasonic milling and hydrothermal synthesis methods were utilized to successfully synthesize the ternary nanohybrid materials and improve their visible light photocatalytic performance. The mechanism was elucidated based on the detailed characterization of structural properties, spectroscopic properties, photocatalytic reaction properties, and electron transfer reaction dynamics using femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy.

Reference

1. Kejun Wu, Pankaj Koinkar, and Akihiro Furube, International Journal of Modern Physics B, 35, 2140046 (2021)