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WO3 nanorods and flower-like CuS were synthesized by hydrothermal process. The visible light driven CuS-WO3 photocatalyst was prepared by adding different weight ratios (10-40%) of CuS on WO3 by wet impregnation method. The synthesized photocatalysts were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance (DRS) spectroscopy. The photocatalytic performance of synthesized photocatalysts was evaluated for the photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. 10% CuS-WO3 photocatalyst showed higher photocatalytic degradation activity than others which could be due to the increased absorption of light in the visible region and also by a lower recombination of charge carriers. Further, the photoelectrochemical measurements carried out for 10% CuS-WO3 revealed the faster migration of photo-induced charge-carriers. A possible reaction mechanism for the enhancement of photocatalytic activity of CuS-WO3 has been proposed.

In this study, a series of photocatalysts were prepared, namely bare 3D-TiO2 (b-3D-T), magnetic 3D-TiO2: (m3D-T) and magnetic 3D-TiO2@Hierarchical Porous Graphene Aerogels (HPGA) nanocomposite: (m3D-T-HPGA NC) by solvothermal process. The prepared photocatalysts were analyzed by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and Diffuse Reflectance Measurement – Ultraviolet (DRS-UV) to know their physical and chemical properties. The photocatalytic degradations of two toxic aquatic pollutants viz., Cr(VI) and bisphenol A (BPA) were tested by using the prepared photocatalysts. Parameters such as initial pollutant concentration, solution pH, photocatalyst dosage, wavelength and light intensity were investigated to optimize the process. The photocatalytic properties of prepared catalyst were analyzed based on the degradation of Cr(VI) and BPA under UV irradiation. The modified photocatalysts showed better performance as compared to b-3D-T photocatalyst. This better performance is ascribed to efficient charge transfer between b-3D-T nanoparticles to the porous graphene sheets. The maximum photocatalytic degradation of Cr(VI) was found to be 100% with m3D-T-HPGA NC within 140 min, whereas a removal efficacy of 100% and 57% was noticed in case of m3D-T and b-3D-T within 200 and 240 min, respectively. In the case of BPA, the maximum degradation efficiency was found to be 90% with m3D-T-HPGA NC within 240 min.

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