Enhanced visible light-driven photocatalytic activity and stability of novel ternary ZnO/CuO/MoO3 nanorods for the degradation of rhodamine B and alizarin yellow

Abstract

A novel ternary ZnO/CuO/MoO3 (ZnO/CuO/M) heterojunction photocatalysts with the nanorods morphology was synthesized by facile hydrothermal treatment. The surface morphology as nanorods, optical properties, photogenerated separation/transfer of charge carriers and photocatalytic properties were characterized for all developed photocatalysts. The photodegradation of organic pollutants including rhodamine B (RhB) and alizarin yellow (AY) dyes was studied under the visible light irradiance. The ternary ZnO/CuO/M nanorods revealed improved photocatalytic performance than pristine ZnO, CuO, MoO3 and binary CuO/M composite. Amongst all ternary ZnO/CuO/M photocatalysts displayed the best photocatalytic activity for RhB (97%) and AY (79%) dyes within 120 min, which is 57 times and 64 times higher than that of pristine MoO3. Reactive trapping experiments were also executed qualitatively to perceive the characters of different active species for both dyes degradation. The improved photocatalytic presentation could be credited to the development of the ZnO/CuO/M heterojunction photocatalysts, which is advantageous for efficient fast transfer and separation of the photoexcited charge carriers.