P123-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of Ag2MoO4 with enhanced photocatalytic performance

Abstract

To improve photocatalytic activity of Ag2MoO4, in this study, Ag2MoO4 photocatalyst was successfully prepared by a hydrothermal method assisted with EO20PO70EO20 (P123). The prepared Ag2MoO4 photocatalyst (P123-Ag2MoO4) was characterized by some typical analytical methods. The results show that P123-assisted preparation can boost the specific surface area of Ag2MoO4, promote the introduction of oxygen vacancies (OVs) in Ag2MoO4, and accelerate the separation of photoinduced carriers and facilitate the generation of O2–, therefore improving the photocatalytic activity of Ag2MoO4. Under UV light irradiation, catalytic performance of the photocatalysts was evaluated by degradation of methyl orange (MO). When the mass ratio of P123/Ag2MoO4 is 4%, the photocatalytic activity of Ag2MoO4 is 10.1 times higher than that of the blank Ag2MoO4. Considering the results, photocatalytic enhancement mechanism was elaborated. This study provides a facile and effective preparation method to boost the photocatalytic activity of Ag2MoO4 photocatalyst.