LAUSR

Abstract In this work, BiOBr was firstly prepared by using a facile solvothermal approach at 393 K for 24 h, and then Bi2MoO6 well dispersed on the surface of BiOBr at 433 K for 3 h. The shape, chemical composition, crystal structure, optical property and surface area of Bi2MoO6/BiOBr were investigated by field emission electron microscope (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms and UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The Bi2MoO6/BiOBr heterojunctions exhibited substantially improved performance for removal of methylene blue (MB), compared with BiOBr and Bi2MoO6 samples under 410 nm light excitation. The constant Kapp of 20%Bi2MoO6/BiOBr is 0.0539 min−1, which is 4.4 and 6.9 times higher than that of Bi2MoO6 (0.0121 min−1) and BiOBr (0.0078 min−1). The prominent enhancement of activity is due to the high charge separation capacity, which resulted from the matched band alignment of two components. Finally, the Z-scheme photocatalytic mechanism was confirmed by radical trapping experiment.