Ternary Heterostructures Based on BaTiO3/MoO3/Ag for Highly Efficient and Reusable Photocatalytic Applications

• Published in: Advanced materials interfaces Vol. 10; no. 25
• Main Authors: Alex, Kevin V., Silva, José P. B., Kamakshi, Koppole, Sekhar, Koppole C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-09-2023; Wiley-VCH
• Subjects: Barium titanates; Catalytic activity; Charge transfer; Current carriers; Current voltage characteristics; Electric double layer; Electric fields; Electron transfer; ferroelectric; Ferroelectricity; Heterostructures; Illumination; Molybdenum trioxide; Nanoparticles; Nyquist plots; Photocatalysis; Photodegradation; Photoelectric effect; plasmonic; Rhodamine; semiconductors; Silver; Surface plasmon resonance
• ISSN: 2196-7350; 2196-7350
• DOI: 10.1002/admi.202201948

This work shows the fabrication of an efficient ternary heterostructure photocatalyst by integrating ferroelectric BaTiO3 (BTO) as the bottom layer, semiconductor MoO3 as the middle layer and plasmonic silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) as the top layer, respectively. The BaTiO3/MoO3/Ag (BMA) heterostructure exhibits a higher photodegradation and photocatalytic efficiency of 100% for rhodamine B (RhB) dye under a UV–Visible light illumination of 60 min when compared with its binary heterostructure counterparts BaTiO3/Ag (BA) and MoO3/Ag (MA). The increased photocatalytic activity in BMA heterostructure is attributed to its enhanced interfacial electric field due to the electric double layer formation at BTO‐MoO3 and MoO3‐Ag interfaces. The higher blueshift in the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak observed for the BMA heterostructure clearly indicates an increased electron transfer toward the top Ag NPs layer under optical illumination. The higher resistive switching (RS) ratio, the increased difference in voltage minima, and the improved photocurrent generation, as evident from the I–V characteristics, illustrate the enhanced charge carrier generation and separation in BMA heterostructure. A smaller arc radius observed for the Nyquist plot of BMA heterostructure clearly showcases its increased interfacial charge transfer (CT). The CT mechanism and reusability of the BMA heterostructure are also studied.
A highly efficient ternary photocatalyst based on BaTiO3/MoO3/Ag (BMA) is fabricated. BMA photocatalyst exhibits higher photodegradation against its binary counterparts. The BMA heterostructure exhibits good reusability. Charge transfer (CT) and photocatalytic mechanisms are discussed in detail.