Hydrothermal synthesis of B-doped Bi2MoO6 and its high photocatalytic performance for the degradation of Rhodamine B

Abstract B-doped Bi 2 MoO 6 photocatalysts have been synthesized by a hydrothermal method using HBO 3 as the doping source and the effect of B doping content on Bi 2 MoO 6 structure and performance was studied. The samples were characterized with XPS, XRD, SEM, BET, UV–Vis DRS, and PL. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light (λ ≥ 420 nm). The results show that all samples are orthorhombic structure. Doping Bi 2 MoO 6 with B increases the amount of Bi 5+ and oxygen vacancies, which led to stronger absorption in visible light region and lower band gap energy of the B-doped Bi 2 MoO 6 but had little impact on morphology. B doping significantly improves the photocatalytic activity of Bi 2 MoO 6 and the highest photocatalytic degradation rate is 89% when the initial molar ratio of B to Bi is 0.01.