Enhanced photocatalytic degradation for thiophene by Ag/α-MoO3 heterojunction under visible-light irradiation

• Published in: Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics 2018-03, Vol.29 (5), p.3672-3681
• Main Authors: Zhen, YanZhong, Wang, Jie, Li, Jing, Fu, Mengxi, Fu, Feng, Zhang, YingZheng, Feng, JingHao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Catalytic activity; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Degradation; Desulfurizing; Fuel oils; Heterojunctions; Light irradiation; Materials Science; Molybdenum trioxide; Optical and Electronic Materials; Photocatalysis; Photochemistry; Pollutants; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy
• ISSN: 0957-4522; 1573-482X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-017-8298-z

Ag/α-MoO 3 heterojunctions were prepared by a photoreduction process and characterized using XRD, TEM, UV–Vis-DRS, EDS, XPS, PL, EIS and PT. Ag/α-MoO 3 heterojunctions exhibited excellent photocatalytic oxidative desulfurization activity for thiophene under visible-light irradiation. The removal efficiency of 5% Ag/α-MoO 3 composites could get to 98.3% with 1.5 g L −1 amount of catalyst used under visible-light irradiation for 270 min, which is 2.5 times as high as that of pure α-MoO 3 nanobelts. The stability of as-prepared Ag/α-MoO 3 heterojunctions were investigated through recycling run experiment, which the desulfurization rate of 5 wt% Ag/α-MoO 3 for thiophen still remained 92.8% after five consecutive cycles. Furthermore, the active species trapping experiment confirmed that h + and · O 2 − were the main active in photocatalytic degradation process for thiophene. Additionally, the mechanism of the enhanced photocatalytic activity for Ag/α-MoO 3 was proposed. These features demonstrate that the Ag/α-MoO 3 heterojunctions have great application potential for refractory pollutants’ removal from fuel oil.