A stable and regenerative TiO2/Bi2MoO6 photocatalyst for highly effective degradation of Rhodamine B and Congo Red

This research unravels a facile method for synthesising TiO2/Bi2MoO6 photocatalysts and their effective applications in degrading industrial dyes. Initially, Bi2MoO6 was prepared as the substrate, followed by the addition of TiO2 to form the TiO2/Bi2MoO6 composite. The photocatalyst was characterised by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), photoluminescence (PL), and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS). Its photocatalytic properties were evaluated by dye degradation under various conditions, including different dopant loading amounts, the reaction time, the initial concentration of the dye, and pH values. The results indicated that 50 mg of 15% TiO2/Bi2MoO6 achieved the highest photodegradation efficiency: 98.51% for 50 mL 10 mg L-1 Rhodamine B (RhB) within 100 min in a neutral buffer solution and 90.71% for 50 mL 10 mg L-1 Congo Red (CR) within 80 min in an aqueous solution. This material exerted effectiveness across a wide pH range, with removal rates of RhB exceeding 95.41% in both acidic and alkaline conditions. The degradation process conformed to the pseudo-first-order kinetic model. Radical trapping experiments revealed that the dye degradation mechanism involved center dot O-2 center dot O2- and h(+). Notably, the synthesised TiO2/Bi2MoO6 photocatalyst demonstrated high stability and reusability, maintaining performance even after four degradation cycles. The TiO2/Bi2MoO6 photocatalyst, with TiO2 as the dopant and Bi2MoO6 as the substrate, demonstrated significant versatility and potential for practical dye degradation applications.