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Preparation, characterization and photocatalytic performance of Mo-doped ZnO photocatalysts

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Abstract

A series of Mo-doped ZnO photocatalysts with different Mo-dopant concentrations have been prepared by a grinding-calcination method. The structure of these photocatalysts was characterized by a variety of methods, including N2 physical adsorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL) emission spectroscopy, and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). It was found that Mo6+ could enter into the crystal lattice of ZnO due to the radius of Mo6+ (0.065 nm) being smaller than that of Zn2+ (0.083 nm). XRD results indicated that Mo6+ suppressed the growth of ZnO crystals. The FT-IR spectroscopy results showed that the ZnO with 2 wt.% Mo-doping has a higher level of surface hydroxyl groups than pure ZnO. PL spectroscopy indicated that ZnO with 2 wt.% Mo-doping also exhibited the largest reduction in the intensity of the emission peak at 390 nm caused by the recombination of photogenerated hole-electron pairs. The activities of the Mo-doped ZnO photocatalysts were investigated in the photocatalytic degradation of acid orange II under UV light (λ = 365 nm) irradiation. It was found that ZnO with 2 wt.% Mo-doping showed much higher photocatalytic activity and stability than pure ZnO. The high photocatalytic performance of the Mo-doped ZnO can be attributed to a great improvement in the surface properties of ZnO, higher crystallinity and lower recombination rate of photogenerated hole-electron (e−/h+) pairs. Moreover, the undoped Mo species may exist in the form of MoO3 and form MoO3/ZnO heterojunctions which further favors the separation of e−/h+ pairs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Metallurgy and Chemical Engineering, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou, 341000, China

    ChangLin Yu, Kai Yang, Qing Shu, FangFang Cao, Xin Li & XiaoChun Zhou

  2. Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis-State Key Laboratory Breeding Base, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350002, China

    Kai Yang

  3. Department of Chemistry, The Center of Novel Functional Molecules and Environmental Science Programme, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China

    Jimmy C. Yu

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  1. ChangLin Yu
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  2. Kai Yang
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  3. Qing Shu
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  4. Jimmy C. Yu
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  5. FangFang Cao
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  6. Xin Li
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  7. XiaoChun Zhou
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Correspondence to ChangLin Yu.

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Yu, C., Yang, K., Shu, Q. et al. Preparation, characterization and photocatalytic performance of Mo-doped ZnO photocatalysts. Sci. China Chem. 55, 1802–1810 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-012-4721-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-012-4721-8

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