Construction and Enhanced Efficiency of Bi(2)MoO(6)/ZnO Compo-Sites for Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalytic Performance

Bi(2)MoO(6) was one of the important bismuth-based semiconductors with a narrow bandgap, and has been widely used in selective oxidation catalysts, supercapacitors, and energy-storage devices. A series of Bi(2)MoO(6)/ZnO composite photocatalysts with different mass ratios were synthesized by the hydrothermal method. The synthesized samples were characterized by XRD, PL, UV-Vis, SEM, TEM, XPS, and BET analysis techniques. Under visible light conditions, Methylene blue (MB) was used as the target degradation product to evaluate its photocatalytic performance. The results showed that the degradation rate constant of Bi(2)MoO(6)/ZnO (0.4-BZO) was about twice that of the traditional photocatalysis of ZnO. The Bi(2)MoO(6)/ZnO composite catalyst maintained stable performance after four consecutive runs. The high photocatalytic activity of Bi(2)MoO(6)/ZnO was attributed to the efficient electron transport of the heterojunction, which accelerates the separation of electron-hole pairs and reduces the probability of carrier recombination near the Bi(2)MoO(6)/ZnO heterojunction. Bi(2)MoO(6)/ZnO nanocomposites have potential applications in the field of photodegradation.