Photocatalystic degradation of RhB over highly visible-light-active Ag3PO4-Bi2MoO6 heterojunction using H2O2 electron capturer

Abstract Ag 3 PO 4 -Bi 2 MoO 6 heterojunctions with visible-light photocatalytic activity were successfully fabricated via a deposition-precipitation method. The investigation shows that Ag 3 PO 4 -Bi 2 MoO 6 composites exhibit enhanced visible light harvesting ability and better degradation efficiency for RhB compared with Bi 2 MoO 6 and Ag 3 PO 4 under visible light irradiation (λ > 420 nm). What's more, we found that the activity and the stability of Ag 3 PO 4 -Bi 2 MoO 6 heterojunction could be further improved by adding of H 2 O 2 in the RhB reaction solution. The enhanced photocatalytic performance and structure stability are primarily attributed to the efficient charge carrier separation of the heterojunction formed by Ag 3 PO 4 and Bi 2 MoO 6 , and the electron capturing property of H 2 O 2 on the surface of Ag 3 PO 4 -Bi 2 MoO 6 composites, leading to a highly efficient removal of RhB using the Ag 3 PO 4 -Bi 2 MoO 6 -H 2 O 2 system. In addition, the active species trapping experiments indicate that h + and •O 2 – play important roles during the photocatalytic degradation process. This work suggests that the H 2 O 2 assisted Ag 3 PO 4 -Bi 2 MoO 6 heterojunction system could be a potential promising photocatalyst for environmental remediation.