A novel Sb-doped Mo(O,S)3 oxy-sulfide photocatalyst for degradation of methylene blue dye under visible light irradiation

Abstract

Environmentally toxic methylene blue organic pollutants are of more concerns due to their antagonistic effects on human health, animals, and plants, thus needs serious attention for their removal. For elimination purpose, the Sb-doped Mo(O,S)3 oxy-sulfide nanoplate catalyst with different Sb contents was synthesized at low temperature of 95 °C via a facile method. The structural, morphological, chemical composition, optical properties, and electrical conductivity of the catalyst were characterized with different techniques. The photocatalytic performance of Sb-Mo(O,S)3 at various Sb contents was investigated for the degradation of methylene blue dye under visible light irradiation using hydrogen peroxide as an effective electron scavenger to further accelerate the reaction. It was observed that the incorporation of Sb enhanced the catalytic activity. Sb-Mo(O,S)3-10 was the most efficient catalyst with excellent activity to degrade 99.7% of the dye within 60 min irradiation time. The degradation kinetics follows a pseudo-first-order reaction with a rate constant 8.78 × 10−2 min−1, which is 3-fold higher than that for Sb- Mo(O,S)3-0 catalyst. Sb-Mo(O,S)3-10 showed slower recombination of photogenerated charge carriers and lower charge transfer resistance which proved to be capable for the removal of toxic methylene blue organic pollutant.