A series of novel Bi₂MoO₆/zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) photocatalysts have been successfully fabricated through a facile self-assembly process. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-vis spectrophotometry, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) characterized pure Bi₂MoO₆, pure ZIF-8, and a series of Bi₂MoO₆/ZIF-8 composites. The result indicated that, when compared with pure Bi₂MoO₆, the composite of Bi₂MoO₆/ZIF-8 exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light. Moreover, the Bi₂MoO₆/ZIF-8-3 composite (the molar ratio of Bi₂MoO₆ to 2-MI is 3:3) has optimum photocatalytic performance because of the suitable amount of ZIF-8 decorated on the flower-like Bi₂MoO₆. The enhanced photocatalytic activity is probably due to the introduction of ZIF-8, which will promote the separation of electron-hole pair and the surface morphology. Benefitting from the diversity of the MOF species (ZIF-8 is one of them), this composing strategy of Bi₂MoO₆/MOF composite would provide new insight into the design of highly efficient visible light photocatalysts.
Keywords: Bi2MoO6; ZIF-8; morphology; photocatalysis.