Pulsed laser ablation-mediated facile fabrication of MoO3/TiO2/rGO nanocomposite as a photocatalyst for dye degradation

Abstract

In this work, for the first time, the MoO3/TiO2/rGO nanocomposites with different weight ratios of rGO (0%, 5%, 10%, and 20%) were fabricated using pulsed laser ablation technique. The as-fabricated nanocomposites were employed for photodegradation of Methylene Blue (MB) under UV light irradiation. The morphological, structural, and chemical properties of the fabricated photocatalysts were characterized using XRD, TEM, SEM, UV-DRS, XPS, FTIR, TGA, DSC, and PL. Comparative experimental studies displayed that MoO3/TiO2/rGO nanocomposites fabricated with 5% rGO showed the highest photocatalytic degradation (95%) of MB under UV irradiation. This superior photocatalytic performance could be ascribed to the narrow bandgap of the fabricated nanocomposites as well as the synergistic effect of the three components.