Facile synthesis of Fe(2)O(3) nanoparticles anchored on Bi(2)MoO(6) microflowers with improved visible light photocatalytic activity

Shijie Li; Shiwei Hu; Junlei Zhang; Wei Jiang; Jianshe Liu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2017.02.069

Facile synthesis of Fe(2)O(3) nanoparticles anchored on Bi(2)MoO(6) microflowers with improved visible light photocatalytic activity

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2017 Jul 1:497:93-101. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2017.02.069. Epub 2017 Mar 1.

Authors

Shijie Li¹, Shiwei Hu², Junlei Zhang³, Wei Jiang², Jianshe Liu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Innovation & Application Institute, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province 316022, China; Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Health Risk Factors for Seafood, Zhoushan Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zhoushan 316021, China. Electronic address: lishijie@zjou.edu.cn.
² Innovation & Application Institute, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province 316022, China.
³ State Environmental Protection Engineering Center for Pollution Treatment and Control in Textile Industry, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP3), Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
⁴ State Environmental Protection Engineering Center for Pollution Treatment and Control in Textile Industry, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.

PMID: 28273515
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2017.02.069

Abstract

Constructing novel semiconductor heterojunctions is emerging as one of the efficient methods to develop excellent photocatalysts. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of Bi₂MoO₆ microflowers decorated by Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles as an efficient visible-light-driven photocatalyst via a simple solvothermal precipitation-calcination method. The as-prepared Fe₂O₃/Bi₂MoO₆ heterojunctions were systematically characterized by using several techniques. The photocatalytic properties of these heterojunctions were estimated by degrading rhodamine B (RhB) and para-chlorophenol (4-CP) under visible light (λ>400nm). They showed much higher photocatalytic activity than pure Fe₂O₃ or Bi₂MoO₆. The heterojunction with Fe/Bi molar ratio of 0.2 presented the highest activity. The RhB degradation rate constant was about 4.8 times or 3.8 times higher than that of Bi₂MoO₆ or a mechanical mixture of Fe₂O₃ and Bi₂MoO₆. The remarkable enhanced photocatalytic activity is attributed to the effective suppression of electron-hole recombination. The photogenerated holes (h⁺) and superoxide radical anions (O₂^-) were found to be the major active species. Fe₂O₃/Bi₂MoO₆ has great potential as an effective and stable visible-light-driven photocatalysts for wastewater treatment.

Keywords: Fe(2)O(3)/Bi(2)MoO(6); Heterojunction; Microflower; Photocatalysis; Visible light.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't