Visible-light Photocatalytic Study of SnOx:N Islands on Bi2MoO6

Developing a visible-light (VL) photocatalytic composite to decompose organic pollutants is a major challenge in environmental protection. Toward the photocatalytic application of the sensor material Bi2MoO6, a novel structure containing SnOx:N islands was constructed by co-spraying SnOx:N/ZnO species on a sprayed Bi2MoO6 surface, which was followed by ZnO etching with buffered HF. The effects of the etching time on the surface morphology and composite were studied. The photocatalytic ability of the composite was evaluated on the degradation of RhB under VL LED illumination. For a sample subjected to 30 s etching with exposed Bi2MoO6 and SnOx:N islands on the surface, relatively high photocatalytic activity with a reaction rate constant of 0.0124 mini was obtained. On the basis of the scavenger analysis of the composites, the photocatalytic mechanism and the effect of etching were discussed.