A novel mechanism for visible-light degradation of phenol by oxygen vacancy Bi2MoO6 homojunction

Homojunctions formed between two same semiconductors can notably facilitate charge transfer and separation. It is mainly used in solar cells to improve power conversion efficiency, and there is great potential for its application in photo-catalytic wastewater degradation. Herein, we designed an oxygen vacancy of Nanorods/Nanosheets Bi2MoO6 homojunction photo-catalyst, prepared by calcining pure Bi2MoO6 at high temperature and annealing it at the ambient temperature. Various characterization methods analyzed the chemical ingredient, microstructure, and optical characteristics. They are degrading phenol during visible illumination to survey the photo-catalytic performance of the homojunction. Density function theory (DFT) and other characterization methods demonstrate that the enhanced activity of the photo-catalyst is the efficient interfacial charge transfer and separation induced by the internal electric field and oxygen vacancies in the homojunction. This work provides a new strategy for constructing a novel homojunction to treat phenol wastewater.