Novel Nb3O7F/WS2 hybrid nanomaterials with enhanced optical absorption and photocatalytic activity.

Coping with increasing environmental issues, niobium oxyfluoride (Nb3O7F), as a novel semiconductor, is a promising photocatalyst due to its outstanding electronic and optoelectronic properties. However, the photocatalytic performance of Nb3O7F is restricted in practical application due to its weak optical absorption and low carrier separation. In this work, Nb3O7F/WS2 hybrids with superior optical absorption and photocatalytic activity have been successfully synthesized by a facile two-step sol-hydrothermal technique. UV-vis spectra show that WS2 not only exhibits enhanced optical absorption in the range of 420-1100 nm but extends the absorption edge, and tends to narrow the band gap of the Nb3O7F photocatalyst. Photocatalytic experiments indicate that introducing WS2 into Nb3O7F markedly enhances the photocatalytic activity in the degradation of methylene blue dyes under visible-light irradiation. Nb3O7F/WS2 photocatalysts exhibit the highest activity with 98.9% decoloration efficiency in 70 min, while pure Nb3O7F only achieves 67.9% in the same time and achieves its final decoloration ratio after 150 min. The excellent photocatalytic activity can be directly ascribed to more exposed active sites, higher carrier separation efficiency, and faster carrier transfer. The results may open up a new avenue for the design and preparation of novel and highly efficient photocatalysts.