Preparation of ordered mesoporous Ag/WO3 and its highly efficient degradation of acetaldehyde under visible-light irradiation

A highly active photocatalyst, silver loaded mesoporous WO3, was successfully synthesized by an ultrasound assisted insertion method. The photodegradation of a common air pollutant acetaldehyde was adopted to evaluate the photocatalytic performance of the as-prepared sample under visible-light irradiation. The photocatalytic activity was about three and six times higher than that of pure mesoporous WO3 and nitrogen-doped TiO2, respectively. The photocatalytic mechanism was investigated to understand the much enhanced photocatalytic activity, which was mainly attributed to the largely improved electron-hole separation in the Ag-WO3 heterojunction.