Improved visible-light driven photocatalysis of a novel heterostructure by the decoration of CuS on Ag2MoO4 nanorod: Synthesis, characterization, elucidation of photocatalytic mechanism and anti-microbial application

The novel heterostructured CuS/Ag2MoO4 nanocomposite (NCs) was prepared via sono-chemical precipitation method and characterized by UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, XPS, SEM, HR-TEM, FT-IR, PL, Raman, EIS, ESR, N2 adsorption and desorption, EDAX and ESR. The photodegradation performance of the prepared particle was evaluated by investigating the visible light degradation of MB dye. When compared to pristine CuS and Ag2MoO4 nanoparticles (NPs), the CuS/Ag2MoO4 NCs shows good photocatalytic activity where about 90.5% of MB was degraded in 200 min. The activity of the NCs (0.009 min-1) was 2.25 times greater than CuS (0.004 min-1) and Ag2MoO4 (0.004 min-1). The enhanced photodegradation by CuS/Ag2MoO4 was attributed to the heterojunction formation between CuS and Ag2MoO4, whereas the inner electric field generated gradually decrease the electron-hole recombination thereby enhancing the dye molecules adsorption on the photocatalytic surface. The main oxidative species was superoxide radical and hydroxyl radical where it is confirmed by radical scavenging experiments. The NCs exhibited excellent anti-microbial activity against B. subtilis and E. coli.

Automated summary

The novel heterostructured CuS/Ag2MoO4 nanocomposite exhibited good photocatalytic and antibacterial activities, attributed to the heterojunction formation reducing electron-hole recombination and enhancing dye molecules adsorption on the surface. The enhanced performance was confirmed by radical scavenging experiments.