Hydrothermal synthesis and enhanced photocatalytic activity of Na0.5Gd0.5MoO4

Sodium gadolinium molybdate (Na0.5Gd0.5MoO4) powder as a new photocatalyst was prepared using GdCl3·6H2O, H2NCSNH2 and Na2MoO4·2H2O as raw materials by hydrothermal approach. The as-synthesized products were characterized with XRD, FESEM, XPS, Raman, FTIR, BET surface area analysis, UV–Vis absorption spectra and PL spectroscopy, respectively. The photocatalytic performance of Na0.5Gd0.5MoO4 catalysts was assessed using the photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) at room temperature under visible light. The Na0.5Gd0.5MoO4 catalyst exhibited enhanced photoability as the Gd3+ ions increase. The excellent photocatalytic performance for photocatalysts arise from the separation and migration of the electron–holes pairs in the structure and the narrow band gap energies resulting in the visible absorption ability’s improvement. Additionally, the h+ was discovered to be the most significant reactive group for RhB photodegradation and the possible photocatalytic mechanism was also devised.