Enhanced photocatalytic activity of a novel visible-light-induced ZnO/Bi3O4Br for the degradation of azo dye pollutant

The formation of heterostructure between coupled semiconductors is regarded as an efficient strategy to enhaced charge separation and improved photocatalytic activity. Herein, the novel ZnO/Bi3O4Br nanocomposite has been prepared by a facile method to degrade the methylene blue dye as an emerging pollutant, under visible light irradiation. The morphology and chemical structure of as-obtained ZnO/Bi3O4Br nanocomposite were analyzed by FESEM and FT-IR instruments. The degradation rate constant of methylene blue on the ZnO/Bi3O4Br (30%) nanocomposite was 9 times as high as bare ZnO. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of ZnO/Bi3O4Br (30%) nanocomposite was attributed to increasing visible-light harvesting ability and separation of the photogenerated electron–hole pairs due to the construction of heterojunction between two semiconductors. Thus, the binary ZnO/Bi3O4Br nanocomposite could have potential applications in different photocatalytic processes.