Novel Mo-doped WO3/ZnO nanocomposites loaded with polyvinyl alcohol towards efficient visible-light-driven photodegradation of methyl orange

The purpose of this work was to develop a molybdenum (Mo)-doped WO3/ZnO and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) novel nanocomposite and then analyze and assess its photocatalytic performance. The resulting composite was employed in a laboratory photoreactor to decompose methyl orange (OM) dye from synthetic wastewater. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy, and a transmission electron microscope (TEM) were utilized to analyze the prepared nanocomposite. The impact of Mo dopant and PVA addition upon crystallinity, optical bandgap, and morphology was investigated. It was shown that 92 % of MO dye can be degraded by Mo-WO3/ZnO@PVA after 120 min of visible light irradiation.

Automated summary

The purpose of this study was to develop a novel nanocomposite of molybdenum (Mo)-doped WO3/ZnO and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and analyze and assess its photocatalytic performance. The resulting composite was used in a laboratory photoreactor to decompose methyl orange (OM) dye from synthetic wastewater. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy, and a transmission electron microscope (TEM) were used to analyze the prepared nanocomposite. The impact of Mo dopant and PVA addition on crystallinity, optical bandgap, and morphology was investigated. It was found that 92% of MO dye could be degraded by Mo-WO3/ZnO@PVA after 120 minutes of visible light irradiation.