Molybdenum oxide nanorods decorated with molybdenum phosphide quantum dots for efficient photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B and norfloxacin

• Published in: Research on chemical intermediates Vol. 48; no. 7; pp. 2887 - 2901
• Main Authors: Huang, Yan, Xing, Wenxin, Zhou, Liang, Tian, Baozhu, Zhang, Jinlong, Zhou, Yi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-07-2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Catalysis; Catalytic activity; Charge efficiency; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Contaminants; Corrosion resistance; Decoration; Efficiency; Electromagnetic absorption; Electron transfer; Energy utilization; Free radicals; Industrial applications; Inorganic Chemistry; Molybdenum; Molybdenum oxides; Molybdenum trioxide; Nanorods; Noble metals; Norfloxacin; Organic contaminants; Oxidation; Oxidizing agents; Phosphides; Photocatalysis; Photocatalysts; Photoelectricity; Physical Chemistry; Quantum dots; Rhodamine; Stability; Structural analysis; MoP quantum dots; Photodegradation; Rhodamine B; MoO; Norfloxacin; nanorod
• ISSN: 0922-6168; 1568-5675
• DOI: 10.1007/s11164-022-04733-6

Molybdenum oxide (MoO
3
), as a transition metal oxide, has excellent catalytic activity, chemical stability, and high application value in the catalytic field. As a typical cocatalyst, noble metals, such as silver and gold, can be decorated with MoO
3
and improve their visible light absorption performance and photogenerated charge separation efficiency to achieve a higher light energy utilization rate. However, the high price of noble metals makes it challenging to realize large-scale industrial applications. Herein, a highly dispersed MoP quantum dot (QDs) decorated MoO
3
nanorods (PMO) was prepared by the co-calcination method to achieve efficient photocatalytic oxidation of target organic contaminants. Rhodamine B (RhB) and norfloxacin (NOR) were used as the model organic contaminants to evaluate the photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared composite photocatalysts. Based on the photoelectric performance and band structure analysis results, the enhancement mechanism of modification with MoP QDs in PMO was proposed. The introduction of MoP QDs in PMO can accelerate electron transfer and achieve a low recombination rate of photogenerated charges. Therefore, the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of RhB and NOR by PMO was higher than that of pristine MoO
3
nanorods and MoP QDs. The degradation efficiency of RhB and NOR could reach more than 97% and 100% within 40 min by PMO-5. Furthermore, photogenerated holes and hydroxyl free radical (·OH) as the primary active oxidants involved in the oxidation process of organic contaminants by PMO-5. PMO-5 still maintained vigorous catalytic activity after five cycles, indicating that it had good chemical stability. This work could provide a new strategy to construct a highly efficient photocatalyst for the efficient degradation of organic contaminants.