AgI/β-Ag2MoO4 heterojunctions with enhanced visible-light-driven catalytic activity

Visible-light-driven photocatalysis for removing industrial dyes and antibiotics in waste water has attracted much interest. New catalysts with enhanced photocatalytic performance have been actively sought. Herein, via a simple sequential precipitation method, AgI nanoparticles were anchored onto micron-sized β-Ag 2 MoO 4 particles to form AgI/β-Ag 2 MoO 4 p–n heterojunctions. These heterojunctions exhibited remarkably upgraded activities in the visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B, methyl orange, and tetracycline hydrochloride compared with pristine AgI and β-Ag 2 MoO 4 . The enhanced photocatalytic activity can be mainly attributed to the tight heterojunction structure and well matched energy band that may facilitate the separation and transfer of photogenerated electron–hole pairs. Photogenerated holes (h + ) and superoxide radical anions (•O 2 − ) were found to be the main active species. A possible photocatalytic mechanism was proposed.