Photocatalytic degradation tests with cobalt-doped molybdenum carbides

Abstract

The Co-doped molybdenum carbides are considered promising catalytic materials. These materials have been employed in photocatalytic degradation reactions, which is the emission of radiation from sunlight or artificial light for the activation of the material to occur. In this work, we have studied the behavior of the Mo2C and Co-doped Mo2C, with Co concentration of 5% and 10%, through the photodegradation of the Maxilon Blue GRL 300 basic dye under tungsten light irradiation, varying the pH of the solutions. The carbide materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy coupled to EDS, and determination of the band gap energy by NIR Cary model 5G UV–visible spectrophotometer. Concerning the photocatalysis tests, the resulting solutions were analyzed by UV–visible spectroscopy, to calculate the final concentrations of the samples. This experimental procedure led to a decrease in carbonation temperature usually employed on the synthesis, as well as the modification/control of the photodegradation of the Maxilon Blue GRL 300 by manipulating the pH. The significant reaction yield results were for the acid medium molybdenum carbide sample, achieving a yield of 90.5% at the final concentration of the dye solution.