Facile fabrication of novel ZnO/CoMoO4 nanocomposites: Highly efficient visible-light-responsive photocatalysts in degradations of different contaminants

• Published in: Journal of photochemistry and photobiology. A, Chemistry. Vol. 363; pp. 31 - 43
• Main Authors: Pirhashemi, Mahsa, Habibi-Yangjeh, Aziz
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 01.08.2018; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Biodegradation; Catalytic activity; Contaminants; Dyes; Fabrication; Heterojunctions; Methylene blue; Nanocomposites; Organic contaminants; p-n Heterojunction; P-n junctions; Performance enhancement; Photocatalysis; Photocatalysts; Photodegradation; Pollutant removal; Pollutants; Reference materials; Refluxing; Rhodamine; Visible-light photocatalysis; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy; Zinc oxide; ZnO/CoMoO4; Organic contaminants; Visible-light photocatalysis; ZnO/CoMoO4; p-n Heterojunction
• ISSN: 1010-6030; 1873-2666
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jphotochem.2018.05.027

[Display omitted] •Binary ZnO/CoMoO4 nanocomposites as efficient photocatalysts are reported.•The ZnO/CoMoO4 (30%) nanocomposite exhibited the highest activity.•Activity was 19.6-folds greater than ZnO in RhB degradation under visible light.•Enhanced activity was ascribed to p-n heterojunction and high visible light absorption. A facile route was adopted to fabricate p-n heterojunction ZnO/CoMoO4 photocatalysts through a refluxing method followed by calcination process. The resulting ZnO/CoMoO4 nanocomposites were characterized by means of XRD, EDX, FESEM, HRTEM, XPS, UV–vis DRS, FT-IR, BET, and PL techniques. The photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B was chosen to investigate photocatalytic performances. Compared to the reference materials of ZnO and CoMoO4, the ZnO/CoMoO4 nanocomposites showed much higher photocatalytic activity and the ZnO/CoMoO4 (30%) sample possessed the highest efficiency, which is 19.6 and 6.26 folds greater relative to the ZnO and CoMoO4, respectively. The results demonstrated that the p-n heterojunction between ZnO and CoMoO4 could significantly boost the photocatalytic efficiency through highly promoted separation of electron/hole pairs as well as extended absorption to visible light. Finally, the highly enhanced performances of the ZnO/CoMoO4 (30%) nanocomposite in removal of three more organic pollutants including methylene blue, methyl orange, and fuchsine were confirmed, which indicates the potential of this nanocomposite for practical applications.