Facile fabrication of Z-scheme ZnO/MoO3 heterojunction as an excellent visible-light responsive photocatalyst for the degradation of rhodamine B and alizarin yellow dyes

Abstract

xZnO-(1-x) MoO3(x = 0.0,0.1,0.3,0.5,0.7) nanocomposite materials have been efficiently fabricated by the facile hydrothermal method to enhance the photocatalytic activities for the environmental applications. The fabricated samples were characterized via XRD, SEM, EDX, XPS, UV–Visible spectroscopy, PL and FTIR analysis. The 5% ZnO-M nanocomposite material exhibits reduced band gab energy and superior photocatalytic activity for rhodamine B (RhB) and alizarin yellow (AY) dyes degradation of 94% and 81% within 120 min under visible light irradiance. Our reported study reveals that the 5% ZnO-M photocatalyst is extremely stable and reusable for more than five reaction of cycles. The photocatalytic enactment of the 5% ZnO-M composite was mostly endorsed due to Z-scheme photocatalysts, higher visible light adsorption on the surface morphology, improved charge separation/transfer, and decreased recombination rate. This study may provide new ideas for developing effective, innovative Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalysts and encouraging their extensive application for the degradation of dyes from wastewater.