Unprecedented photocatalytic activity of carbon coated/MoO3 core–shell nanoheterostructurs under visible light irradiation

• Nano scale uniform coating of carbon over MoO3 nanowires surface.
• Visible light photocatalytic activities for the degradation of methylene blue dye.
• rGO/C-MoO3 nanocomposite showed good chemical stability and charge separation.

We reveal that nano-scale carbon layer deposited by hydrothermal process on molybdenum oxide (MoO3) nanowires surface significantly improve the light absorption range. Furthermore, the graphene-carbon coated MoO3 nanocopmosite (rGO/C-MoO3 nanocomposite) exhibits excellent chemical stability and enhanced photocatalytic activity for methylene blue in aqueous solution under visible light irradiation compared to the bare MoO3 nanowires and carbon coated MoO3 nanowires (C-MoO3 nanowires). The enhanced photocatalytic activity of rGO/C-MoO3 nanocomposite could be attributed to the extended light absorption range, better adsorptivity of dye molecules and efficient separation of photogenerated electrons and holes. Overall, this work provides new insights that the as synthesized rGO/C-MoO3 nanocomposite can be efficiently used as high performance photocatalysts to improve the environmental protection issues under visible light irradiation.

Novel ternary graphene-carbon coated MoO3 nanoheterostructures exhibited the photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methylene blue dye under visible light irradiation.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide