Controllable hydrothermal synthesis and photocatalytic performance of Bi2 MoO6 nano/microstructures

Abstract

Bi2 MoO6 with a tunable morphology was synthesized by a facile hydrothermal route using different surfactants, including nanosheet-assembled microspheres, smooth microspheres, nanoparticle aggregates and nanoparticles. The morphology, crystal structure and photocatalytic activity of as-obtained Bi2 MoO6 were characterized by scanning electron microscopes (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and UV–Vis spectrophotometer. Bi2 MoO6 flower-like microspheres using cetyl-trimethyl-ammonium bromide (BET) as the surfactant exhibited much better photocatalytic activity than Bi2 MoO6 with the other morphologies, with a degradation efficiency of 98.4%. It can be summarized that the photocatalytic activity of Bi2 MoO6 samples depends on their morphology and composition.