Improving the photocatalytic activity of bismuth oxide nanostructures by additive of molybdenum precursor

In this study, pure bismuth oxide (Bi2O3) nanostructures and bismuth oxide- molybdenum bismuth oxide (Bi2O3/ Bi2MoO6) nanocomposites with additive 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12cc values of molybdenum precursor (Na2MoO4.2H2O) were prepared by ultrasound assisted-method, and the effect of additive values of molybdenum precursor has been studied on the photocatalytic activity of pure bismuth oxide nanostructures by removing methylene blue from the water. The structural, morphological and optical properties of these nanostructures have been investigated by TGA/DTA, XRD, SEM and UV-Vis analyzes. The results of XRD show that with increasing of additive values of molybdenum precursor, the intensity of bismuth oxide diffraction peaks decreases and the intensity of bismuth oxide molybdenum diffraction peaks becomes more apparent. SEM images show change in the nanocomposite’s morphology and their size due to additive of molybdenum precursor. The energy gap of nanocomposites was calculated by UV-Vis spectrum, and the results showed that, the energy gap of the samples has been reduced with increasing the amount of molybdenum precursor. Also, the results of photocatalytic activity showed that the nanocomposite containing 2cc molybdenum precursor has the highest photocatalytic activity among the prepared samples and removed 100% methylene blue from the water within 24 minutes.