In Situ Synthesis of Bi2MoO6/Bi2SiO5 Heterojunction for Efficient Degrading of Persistent Pollutants

Kaiwen Yuan; Hailong Jia; Daimei Chen; Yanmei Feng; Yu Liang; Kai Chen; Derek Hao

doi:10.3390/ma16103631

In Situ Synthesis of Bi₂MoO₆/Bi₂SiO₅ Heterojunction for Efficient Degrading of Persistent Pollutants

Materials (Basel). 2023 May 10;16(10):3631. doi: 10.3390/ma16103631.

Authors

Kaiwen Yuan¹, Hailong Jia¹, Daimei Chen¹, Yanmei Feng¹, Yu Liang², Kai Chen³, Derek Hao⁴

Affiliations

¹ Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Geological Carbon Storage and Low Carbon Utilization of Resources, China University of Geosciences, Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China.
² School of Materials Science and Technology, Shenyang University of Chemical Technology, Shenyang 110142, China.
³ Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment Monitoring, Pollution Control School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China.
⁴ School of Science, STEM College, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia.

Abstract

Photocatalytic degradation is an environmentally friendly way to eliminate environmental pollution. Exploring a photocatalyst with high efficiency is essential. In the present study, we fabricated a Bi₂MoO₆/Bi₂SiO₅ heterojunction (BMOS) with intimate interfaces via a facile in situ synthesis method. The BMOS had much better photocatalytic performance than pure Bi₂MoO₆ and Bi₂SiO₅. The sample of BMOS-3 (3:1 molar ratio of Mo:Si) had the highest removal efficiency by the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) up to 75% and tetracycline (TC) up to 62% within 180 min. The increase in photocatalytic activity can be attributed to constructing high-energy electron orbitals in Bi₂MoO₆ to form a type II heterojunction, which increases the separation efficiencies of photogenerated carriers and transfer between the interface of Bi₂MoO₆ and Bi₂SiO₅. Moreover, electron spin resonance analysis and trapping experiments showed that the main active species were h⁺ and •O₂^- during photodegradation. BMOS-3 maintained a stable degradation capacity of 65% (RhB) and 49% (TC) after three stability experiments. This work offers a rational strategy to build Bi-based type II heterojunctions for the efficient photodegradation of persistent pollutants.

Keywords: Bi2MoO6; Bi2SiO5; in situ synthesis; rhodamine B; tetracycline; type II heterojunction.

Abstract

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