Abstract
A green approach was employed for the synthesis of heterostructures of g-C3N4@MoO3 and characterized by XRD, UV–vis, SEM and FTIR techniques to evaluate the structural, morphological, and optical features of the heterostructures. The XRD analysis revealed the high crystallinity and intensity of g-C3N4/MoO3 higher than the g-C3N4 and MoO3. The g-C3N4 shows a crumpled layered arrangement and a MoO3 rod-like structure. The refractive index (n), bandgap energy (Eg) and extinction coefficient (k) (optical properties) are determined by UV–vis spectroscopy. The g-C3N4/MoO3 optical properties like k (2.15), n (2.37), dielectric coefficient (0.43), electronegativity (0.739) and bandgap energy (2.75 eV) were enhanced significantly. In visible region, the g-C3N4/MoO3 demonstrated excellent performance for the degradation of RhB dye. The mobility and detachment of electron-hole pairs in type-II heterojunction semiconductors are responsible for the enhancement of photocatalytic activity (PCA) in visible region, which can be utilized for the dyes remediation in effluents under natural sunlight irradiation.
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•A green route was employed for graphatic-C3N4@MoO3 heterostructure synthesis.•Characterization was done by XRD, UV–vis, SEM and FTIR techniques.•The optical properties enhanced of g-C3N4@MoO3 versus g-C3N4 and MoO3.•g-C3N4@MoO3 showed promising catalytic activity under visible light irradiation.