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

摘要

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 N 2 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 Mo 6+ could enter into the crystal lattice of ZnO due to the radius of Mo 6+(0.065 nm) being smaller than that of Zn 2+(0.083 nm).XRD results indicated that Mo 6+ 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.