Universal and highly efficient degradation performance of novel Bi2(O,S)3/Mo(O,S)2 nanocomposite photocatalyst under visible light

Abstract

Wastewater treatment becomes an important part to improve environmental quality and protect water resources. Thus, developing a new photocatalyst is a key solution for environmental issues. Herein, universal, highly efficient, and novel Bi2(O,S)3/Mo(O,S)2 nanocomposite photocatalyst was fabricated by a facile method and the crystal structure, morphology, composition, and optical properties of the as-prepared catalysts were characterized in details. The photocatalytic performance of the catalysts was evaluated by the photodegradation of methyl orange (MO), rhodamine B (RhB), methylene blue (MB), and neutral red (NR), the results showed that 20% Bi-MoOS nanocomposite had excellent photodegradation activity towards all dyes. 96.0% of MO, 96.6% of RhB, 98.8% of MB and 91.3% of NR dyes were removed after 180 min, 40 min, 20 min, and 25 min visible light irradiation, respectively. The photodegradation of these dyes was further confirmed with HPLC. The excellent photocatalytic activity of the nanocomposites was due to the efficient separation and transport of photogenerated charge carriers induced by the fabricated binary heterostructures. The photodegradation fitted well the pseudo-first-order kinetics. The active species capture experiment study showed that, OH, O2− and h+ all took parts in the degradation of dyes. The stability of the catalyst and reaction mechanism also explained in this work.