Synthesis and Characterization of Graphitic Carbon Nitride / MoO3 Nanocomposites and Their Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract

World is facing severe energy and environmental crisis. Renewable energy sources are gaining popularity with time, because of being an infinite source of energy, cost effectiveness etc. Water pollution, a major type of pollution, is a cause of various potential acute health diseases and potential chronic health diseases. Among the available chemical methods, heterogeneous photocatalytic oxidation is an effective method for the degradation of large number of persistent organic pollutants. Semiconductor based photocatalysts are commonly used materials for the photodegradation of organic pollutants and toxic dyes. In this dissertation, MoO3 were synthesized via hydrothermal method. In order, to reduce the band gap of MoO3, composites were synthesized with g-C3N4. (NH4)6Mo7O24 powder was used as precursor for synthesis of MoO3 and melamine was used as precursor for synthesis of g-C3N4. The prepared catalysts were characterized using XRD, SEM, EDS and UV/Vis-DRS. The degradation studies for the prepared photocatalysts were performed on methylene blue under visible light using photochemical reactor. The spectroscopic studies exhibited that photocatalytic performance of 30% g-C3N4/MoO3 composite was best amongst all prepared catalysts with an efficiency of 91.5%.