Enhanced Photoactivity and Photostability for Visible-Light-Driven Water Oxidation over BiFeO3 Porous Nanotubes by Modification of Mo Doping and Carbon Nanocoating

In this study, an efficient visible-light-driven photocatalyst for water oxidation based on Mo doped BiFeO3 porous nanotubes (Mo-BFO PNTs) was prepared through a facile electrospinning technique combined with a subsequent thermal treatment in air. The substitution of Mo for Fe in BFO lattice decreases the band gap of BFO, facilitates the separation of electron-hole pairs, and reduces the interfacial charge transfer resistance, improving the O-2 evolution rate of BFO by 3.0 times up to 643.6 mu mol g(-1) h(-1) over the optimized Mo-BFO PNTs. Furthermore, both photostability and photoactivity of Mo-BFO PNTs can be improved by modification of the carbon nanocoating, which can effectively strengthen the structural stability of PNTs and suppress the aggregation. This work reports the Mo-BFO modified with carbon nanocoating for photocatalytic water oxidation for the first time and provides new insights into the improvement of photocatalytic performance of semiconductors by metal doping and surface modification.