Highly efficient MoO2.5(OH)0.5-doped ZnO nanoflower for photodecolorization of azo dye

Abstract Different morphologies of ZnO doped with 0–10 mol%. MoO2.5(OH)0.5 nanorod prepared by a simple solid-state reaction method with no template at room temperature, using zinc acetate, molybdenum oxide hydroxide and sodium hydroxide and used for photodecolorization of Congo red dye. The structural and optical properties of the samples were investigated using scanning electron microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, UV–visible absorption, photoluminescence, FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy. It was found that, using different amount of MoO2.5(OH)0.5 not only prevent a drastic increase in the crystallite size of the zinc species but also provide suitable conditions for the oriented growth of primary nanoparticles. The abnormal Raman spectrum shows the strongest intensity at 438.5 cm−1, which indicates the wurtzite structure of ZnO is still maintained after doping of MoO2.5(OH)0.5. Furthermore, MoO2.5(OH)0.5-doped ZnO with morphology of flower exhibited a significant enhancement of photodecolorization capability toward Congo red dye after 20 min in UV exposure. The improvement of decolorization might be attributed to the crystallite size, especial morphology and composition of the nanostructures as result of doping ZnO with MoO2.5(OH)0.5.