Photoinhibitive Properties of α-MoO on Its Composites with TiO, ZnO, BiOI, AgBr, and CuO.

Orthorhombic molybdenum trioxide (α-MoO) is well known as a photocatalyst, adsorbent, and inhibitor during methyl orange photocatalytic degradation via TiO. Therefore, besides the latter, other active photocatalysts, such as AgBr, ZnO, BiOI, and CuO, were assessed via the degradation of methyl orange and phenol in the presence of α-MoO using UV-A- and visible-light irradiation. Even though α-MoO could be used as a visible-light-driven photocatalyst, our results demonstrated that its presence in the reaction medium strongly inhibits the photocatalytic activity of TiO, BiOI, CuO, and ZnO, while only the activity AgBr is not affected.

Hydrothermal Crystallization of Bismuth Oxychlorides (BiOCl) Using Different Shape Control Reagents.

Bismuth oxychloride photocatalysts were obtained using solvothermal synthesis and different additives (CTAB-cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, CTAC-cetyltrimethylammonium chloride, PVP-polyvinylpyrrolidone, SDS-sodium dodecylsulphate, U-urea and TU-thiourea). The effect of the previously mentioned compounds was analyzed applying structural (primary crystallite size, crystal phase composition, etc.), morphological (particle geometry), optical (band gap energy) parameters, surface related properties (surface atoms' oxidation states), and the resulted photocatalytic activity.

Facile Green Synthesis of BiOBr Nanostructures with Superior Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalytic Activity.

Novel green bismuth oxybromide (BiOBr-G) nanoflowers were successfully synthesized via facile hydrolysis route using an (Neem plant) leaf extract and concurrently, without the leaf extract (BiOBr-C). The leaf extract was employed as a sensitizer and stabilizer for BiOBr-G, which significantly expanded the optical window and boosted the formation of photogenerated charge carriers and transfer over the BiOBr-G surface. The photocatalytic performance of both samples was investigated for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) and phenol (Ph) under the irradiation of visible light.