A Novel Mechanism for Visible-Light Degradation of Phenol by Oxygen Vacancy Bi2moo6 Homojunction

Abstract

Homojunctions formed between two same semiconductors can notably facilitate charge transfer and separation. It is mainly used in the field of solar cells to improve power conversion efficiency, and there is great potential for its application in photocatalytic wastewater degradation. Herein, we designed an oxygen vacancy of Nanorods/Nanosheets Bi2MoO6 homojunction photocatalyst, which was prepared by calcining pure Bi2MoO6 at high temperature and annealing it at the ambient temperature. The chemical ingredient, microstructure, and optic characteristics were analyzed by various characterization methods. Degrading of phenol during visible illumination to survey the photo-catalytic performance of the homojunction. Density function theory (DFT) and other characterization methods demonstrate that the reason for the enhanced activity of the photocatalyst is the efficient interfacial charge transfer and separation induced by the internal electric field and oxygen vacancies in the homojunction. This work provides a new strategy for constructing a novel homojunction to treat wastewater containing phenol.

Keywords: Nanorods/Nanosheets Bi2MoO6, oxygen vacancy, internal electric field, density function theory, degrading phenol