Environment and energy are presently some of the highest priority topics for mankind that need to be addressed. Organic pollutants are toxic and carcinogenic for human and aquatic life hence their presence in water even in low concentrations can cause serious health problems. Photodegradation of organic pollutants by utilizing oxide-based heterostructure photocatalysts is the promising approach to carry out remediation efficiently ascribed to the advanced optoelectronic and structural superiority of oxide photocatalysts. The Zn(O,S)/Mo(O,S)2 composites were synthesized via a facile solvothermal method at low temperatures. Several methods were used to characterize the composite morphology, structure, electrical conductivity, chemical composition, and optical characteristics. The heterostructured Zn(O,S)/Mo(O,S)2 oxysulfide was employed successfully in the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants. Among the as-prepared samples, the 30-ZnMoOS composite catalyst was found to have the highest photodegradation performance on various organic dye pollutants. The photocatalytic activity of the as-synthesized Zn(O,S)/Mo(O,S)2 samples was assessed on the photodegradation of different kinds of organic dyes under visible light irradiation. The photocatalytic degradation efficiency of 30-ZnMoOS composite over 10 ppm neutral red (NR), methylene blue (MB), rhodamine B (Rh B), and methyl orange (MO) was found to be 99.6 %, 99.9 %, 99.5 %, and 98.8 % within 40, 45, 180, and 180 min, respectively, under visible light illumination. In the present photocatalytic system, the superoxide (.O2-) anions, hydroxyl (.OH) radicals, and holes (h+) are proposed to be the direct reactive species causing the photodegradation of organic dyes.
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