A facile synthesis route and photo-catalytic properties of mixed-phase bismuth molybdate

The polymorphs (alpha - Bi2Mo3O12, beta - Bi2Mo2O9, gamma - Bi2MoO6) of bismuth molybdate (BMO) exhibit photo-catalytic activity. Among them, the beta phase exhibits good photo electrochemical (PEC) performance but suf-fers from stability issues. In this work, mixed-phase BMO compounds were synthesized using a facile co-precipitation route. The processed BMO showed a band gap of 2.46 eV. The sample with predominantly gamma-BMO (gamma - Bi2MoO6) with lower alpha and beta content exhibited better photo-electrochemical performance with a photocurrent density of 1.12 mu A/cm2 and lower charge transfer resistance compared to the BMO-1 sample with a larger amount of alpha and beta phases. Both the samples displayed n-type conductivity and excellent photoresponse under chopped illumination.

Automated summary

Different polymorphs of bismuth molybdate (BMO) exhibit varying photo-catalytic activity, with the beta phase showing good photo electrochemical (PEC) performance but poor stability. In this study, mixed-phase BMO compounds were successfully synthesized, predominantly consisting of the gamma-BMO phase. These compounds exhibited better photo-electrochemical performance, with lower photocurrent density and charge transfer resistance compared to samples with higher alpha and beta phase content.