Visible Light-Driven Hypochlorous Acid Synthesis Using a Sustainable and Cost-Effective WO 3 /CdS Photocatalyst without Precious Metals.

Compared with traditional electrolytic technology, directly using photocatalytic materials to produce hypochlorous acid from chlorine-containing water undoubtedly has stronger low-carbon and environmentally-friendly characteristics. However, currently reported materials with photocatalytic chlorine production performance require precious metal Pt for catalysis, which undoubtedly greatly increases production costs. Therefore, developing new types of non-precious metal-based photocatalytic materials for efficient hypochlorous acid synthesis has significant implications. In this study, we demonstrate a novel breakthrough by showing that the WO 3 /CdS with a Z-scheme structure effectively generated 3.54 mg/L of free chlorine in a 0.5 M NaCl solution, while also exhibiting spectral bactericidal and algal inhibition properties. The Z-scheme structure can effectively prevent carrier recombination and improve photocatalytic efficiency. Therefore, this research provides a novel approach to photocatalytic antifouling and holds significant implications for the application of photocatalytic technology in the marine antifouling industry.