Monoclinic WO3 nanomultilayers with preferentially exposed (002) facets for photoelectrochemical water splitting

This article describes the synthesis of γ-monoclinic WO3 nanomultilayers with highly reactive (002) facets exposed through a facile solvothermal method using ethylene glycol as the solvent. The multilayered WO3 exhibits a unique structure where a larger backbone nanosheet is sandwiched by smaller nanosheets from both sides. The obtained electrode showed a photocurrent density of 1.62 mA cm−2 at 1.25 V versus Ag/AgCl (pH 6.8) and a photoconversion efficiency of 0.154% under AM 1.5 G owing to the preferentially exposed highly active (002) facets.178