Synthesis,characterization and excellent photocatalytic activity of Ag/AgBr/MoO3 composite photocatalyst

A novel composite photocatalyst Ag/AgBr/MoO₃ was successfully synthesized via a simple precipitation method at room temperature. The obtained products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy in detail. The photocatalytic activity of the samples was evaluated by monitoring the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) solution under visible-light irradiation. The results showed that the photocatalytic activity of Ag/AgBr/MoO₃ composite significantly enhanced and the degradation ratio of RhB reached 97.7 % after 15 min only. The excellent photocatalytic activity might be closely related to the large surface area, porosity structure and efficient separation of photoinduced electron–hole pairs. The possible reaction mechanism was also discussed.