@article {YANG2023122202, title = {Oxygen vacancy-induced spin polarization of tungsten oxide nanowires for efficient photocatalytic reduction and immobilization of uranium(VI) under simulated solar light}, journal = {Applied Catalysis B: Environmental}, volume = {324}, year = {2023}, pages = {122202}, abstract = {Tungsten oxide nanowires (WO3-x) with rich oxygen vacancies (OVs) were fabricated through a facile hydrothermal method, which had both high adsorptive capability and photocatalytic activity. 95.1\% of total U(VI) (C0 = 10~mg/L) was removed by WO3-x at pH 5, and 79.9\% was transformed to U(IV) to achieve reductive immobilization after photocatalysis under simulated solar light. Band structure and optical characterizations indicated WO3-x had narrower band gap energy, but higher charger carrier separation and transfer rates compared with conventional WO3. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations further demonstrate the spin polarization state electrons of W 5d in WO3-x due to the construction of OVs, thus greatly inhibiting recombination of electron-hole pairs. In addition, the electron density increases in WO3-x and the photogenerated e{\textendash} in the conduction band of WO3-x has higher reduction ability than WO3, leading to more efficient electron transfer from WO3-x to UO22+ after photo-excitation for U(VI) reduction.}, keywords = {Oxygen vacancies, Photocatalytic reduction, Spin polarization, Tungsten oxide, Uranium}, issn = {0926-3373}, doi = {http://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2022.122202}, url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0926337322011432}, author = {Yang, Xudong and Li, Fan and Liu, Wen and Long Chen and Juanjuan Qi and Weiliang Sun and Pan, Fei and Tao Duan and Fengbin Sun} }