Improved photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and rhodamine G dye under UV-radiation by rGO-MoO ₃

Abstract In this work, we report facile synthesis of rGO-MoO 3 nanocomposites as photocatalysts via one-step hydrothermal method. Initially, the synthesized materials were characterized by different physicochemical methods to reveal the structural, morphological, optical, and other properties. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy results validate the formation of rGO-MoO 3 nanocomposites. The optical bandgap values of pristine MoO 3 (3.47 eV) and rGO-MoO 3 (3.36 eV), reveal that they can serve as ultra-violet light photocatalysts, for the decomposition of organic pollutants e.g. methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine G (RhG) dye. The rGO-MoO 3 nanocomposites significantly enhanced the photodegradation efficiency as compared to MoO 3 , due to the interfacial interaction between the composite parts and promoted the transfer of charge carriers from MoO 3 to rGO, causing a reduced rate of electron-hole recombination. The highest degradation efficiency was observed for rGO-MoO 3 nanocomposite {for MB (∼50%) and RhG (∼96%)}, whereas for MoO 3 {for MB (∼40%) and RhG (∼43%)}. This report highlights a noteworthy impact of rGO with MoO 3 nanocomposites as a photocatalyst.