A multifunctional Ag/WO3@g-C3N4 ternary heterostructure for environmental sensing and green hydrogen production

Haneen H. Shanaah; Sumayya M. Ansari; Noureddine Amrane; Javed Iqbal; Jiabao Yi; Adnan Younis

doi:10.1016/j.mseb.2025.119040

A multifunctional Ag/WO₃@g-C₃N₄ ternary heterostructure for environmental sensing and green hydrogen production

Haneen H. Shanaah
, Sumayya M. Ansari
, Noureddine Amrane
, Javed Iqbal
, Jiabao Yi
, Adnan Younis^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Chemical Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

A ternary Ag/WO₃@g-C₃N₄ nanocomposite was synthesized via a hydrothermal-assisted route to enhance photocatalytic, electrocatalytic, and sensing performance. Structural and morphological characterization confirmed the coexistence of g-C₃N₄, monoclinic WO₃, and face-centered cubic Ag phases with uniform nanoparticle distribution. Photoluminescence analysis revealed suppressed electron-hole recombination, indicating efficient charge separation. The composite achieved 80 % degradation of methyl orange (MO) within 30 min under visible light, outperforming bare WO₃ (70 %). In hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) studies, Ag/WO₃@g-C₃N₄ exhibited a low onset potential of −0.12 V vs. SCE and a Tafel slope of 46.3 mV/dec, confirming improved charge transfer kinetics. Humidity sensing measurements demonstrated a significant impedance decrease from 4.0 × 10⁷ Ω to 1.0 × 10⁷ Ω between 70 and 85 % RH with excellent reversibility and low hysteresis at 100 Hz. These results establish Ag/WO₃@g-C₃N₄ as a multifunctional heterostructure capable of synergistically integrating photocatalytic pollutant degradation, sustainable hydrogen generation, and humidity sensing for environmental and energy applications.

Original language	English
Article number	119040
Journal	Materials Science and Engineering B: Solid-State Materials for Advanced Technology
Volume	324
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mseb.2025.119040
State	Published - Feb 2026

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Authors

Keywords

Ag nanoparticles
Environmental remediation
G-CN
HER
Humidity sensor
Photocatalysis
Ternary nanocomposite
WO

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Materials Science
Condensed Matter Physics
Mechanics of Materials
Mechanical Engineering

Access to Document

10.1016/j.mseb.2025.119040

Cite this

@article{3b2f57c725224042a6c66acd30ad39ad,

title = "A multifunctional Ag/WO3@g-C3N4 ternary heterostructure for environmental sensing and green hydrogen production",

abstract = "A ternary Ag/WO3@g-C3N4 nanocomposite was synthesized via a hydrothermal-assisted route to enhance photocatalytic, electrocatalytic, and sensing performance. Structural and morphological characterization confirmed the coexistence of g-C3N4, monoclinic WO3, and face-centered cubic Ag phases with uniform nanoparticle distribution. Photoluminescence analysis revealed suppressed electron-hole recombination, indicating efficient charge separation. The composite achieved 80 \% degradation of methyl orange (MO) within 30 min under visible light, outperforming bare WO3 (70 \%). In hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) studies, Ag/WO3@g-C3N4 exhibited a low onset potential of −0.12 V vs. SCE and a Tafel slope of 46.3 mV/dec, confirming improved charge transfer kinetics. Humidity sensing measurements demonstrated a significant impedance decrease from 4.0 × 107 Ω to 1.0 × 107 Ω between 70 and 85 \% RH with excellent reversibility and low hysteresis at 100 Hz. These results establish Ag/WO3@g-C3N4 as a multifunctional heterostructure capable of synergistically integrating photocatalytic pollutant degradation, sustainable hydrogen generation, and humidity sensing for environmental and energy applications.",

keywords = "Ag nanoparticles, Environmental remediation, G-CN, HER, Humidity sensor, Photocatalysis, Ternary nanocomposite, WO",

author = "Shanaah, \{Haneen H.\} and Ansari, \{Sumayya M.\} and Noureddine Amrane and Javed Iqbal and Jiabao Yi and Adnan Younis",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 The Authors",

year = "2026",

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doi = "10.1016/j.mseb.2025.119040",

language = "English",

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T1 - A multifunctional Ag/WO3@g-C3N4 ternary heterostructure for environmental sensing and green hydrogen production

AU - Shanaah, Haneen H.

AU - Ansari, Sumayya M.

AU - Amrane, Noureddine

AU - Iqbal, Javed

AU - Yi, Jiabao

AU - Younis, Adnan

PY - 2026/2

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N2 - A ternary Ag/WO3@g-C3N4 nanocomposite was synthesized via a hydrothermal-assisted route to enhance photocatalytic, electrocatalytic, and sensing performance. Structural and morphological characterization confirmed the coexistence of g-C3N4, monoclinic WO3, and face-centered cubic Ag phases with uniform nanoparticle distribution. Photoluminescence analysis revealed suppressed electron-hole recombination, indicating efficient charge separation. The composite achieved 80 % degradation of methyl orange (MO) within 30 min under visible light, outperforming bare WO3 (70 %). In hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) studies, Ag/WO3@g-C3N4 exhibited a low onset potential of −0.12 V vs. SCE and a Tafel slope of 46.3 mV/dec, confirming improved charge transfer kinetics. Humidity sensing measurements demonstrated a significant impedance decrease from 4.0 × 107 Ω to 1.0 × 107 Ω between 70 and 85 % RH with excellent reversibility and low hysteresis at 100 Hz. These results establish Ag/WO3@g-C3N4 as a multifunctional heterostructure capable of synergistically integrating photocatalytic pollutant degradation, sustainable hydrogen generation, and humidity sensing for environmental and energy applications.

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