Photocatalytic degradation of phenol over cage-like Bi2MoO6 hollow spheres under visible-light irradiation

Cage-like Bi2MoO6 hollow spheres (C-BMO) were first prepared by a hard-template method. The C-BMO possessed the size of 1.3–1.6 μm and the band-gap of 2.56 eV. The C-BMO exhibited much higher efficiency than the Bi2MoO6 synthesized by solid state reaction in the degradation of phenol under visible-light irradiation due to its larger specific surface area. The mechanisms for the degradation of phenol over the C-BMO were investigated, which revealed the predominant role of both the OH radicals in the degradation of phenol and the photoinduced electrons in the derivation of OH radicals.