Facile synthesis and characterization of Bi2MoO6/Ag3PO4/RGO composites with enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity

The visible-light-driven Bi2MoO6/Ag3PO4/RGO composites were fabricated by a facile in situ precipitation and hydrothermal method and characterized. The as-synthesized Bi2MoO6 appears a sheet-like structure, while the cubic Ag3PO4 nanocrystals attached on the surface of Bi2MoO6 with an average diameter of about 10 nm. Both Bi2MoO6 and Ag3PO4 distributed well on the graphene oxide (GO) sheets, which can potentially improve the separation efficiency of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Additionally, the high-surface-area GO sheets enhanced adsorption of dye molecules, and the photodegradation efficiency of reactive blue 19 (RB-19) dye under visible-light irradiation was as high as 98% in 3 h for Bi2MoO6/Ag3PO4/RGO heterostructure composite. Therefore, the Bi2MoO6/Ag3PO4/RGO photocatalyst can be a favorable alternative for practical use in environmental photocatalysis. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.