Synthesis of α-MoO{sub 3} nanoplates using organic aliphatic acids and investigation of sunlight enhanced photodegradation of organic dyes

Journal Article · Fri Apr 15 04:00:00 EDT 2016 · Materials Research Bulletin

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MATERRESBULL.2015.12.016· OSTI ID:22581494

Kumar, V. Vinod; Gayathri, K.

Graphical abstract: Thermodynamically stable α-MoO{sub 3} nanoplates and nanorods were synthesized using organic structure controlling agents and demonstrated sun light enhanced photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine blue (Rh-B) dyes in aqueous solution. - Highlights: • α-MoO{sub 3} hexagonal nanoplates using organic structure controlling agents. • Tunable optical band gap of MoO{sub 3}. • Demonstrated strong sun light mediated enhanced photodegradation of methylene blue and rhodamine blue. • Photodegradation did not use any other external oxidizing agents. - Abstract: Thermodynamically stable α-MoO{sub 3} nanoplates were synthesized using organic aliphatic acids as structure controlling agents and investigated photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine blue (Rh-B) in presence of sun light. Three different organic aliphatic acids, citric acid (CA), tartaric acid (TA) and ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA), were employed to control morphologies. CA and TA predominantly produced extended hexagonal plates where EDTA gave nanorods as well as nanoplates. PXRD studies confirmed the formation of α-MoO{sub 3} nanoparticles. HR-TEM and FE-SEM reveal the formation of plate morphologies with 20–40 nm thickness, 50–100 nm diameter and 600 nm lengths. The different morphologies of α-MoO{sub 3} nanoparticles lead to the tunable optical band gap between 2.80 and 2.98 eV which was obtained from diffused reflectance spectra (DRS). Interestingly, the synthesized α-MoO{sub 3} nanoplates exhibited strong photocatalytic degradation of MB and Rh-B up to 99% in presence of sun light without using any oxidizing agents.

• OSTI ID: 22581494
• Journal Information: Materials Research Bulletin, Journal Name: Materials Research Bulletin Vol. 76; ISSN MRBUAC; ISSN 0025-5408
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ACETIC ACID
AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS
CITRIC ACID
EDTA
METHYLENE BLUE
MOLYBDENUM OXIDES
MORPHOLOGY
NANOPARTICLES
NANOSTRUCTURES
OXIDIZERS
PHOTOCATALYSIS
POWDERS
RHODAMINES
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SPECTRAL REFLECTANCE
SYNTHESIS
TARTARIC ACID
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
X-RAY DIFFRACTION