Preparation of recyclable MoO nanosheets for visible-light driven photocatalytic reduction of Cr(vi).

The exploitation of stable and earth-abundant photocatalysts with high catalytic activity remains a significant challenge for removing heavy metals from wastewater. Different from complex nanostructuring, this work focuses on a simple and feasible way to design catalysts. Herein, MoO nanosheets were fabricated and grown vertically on the surface of a quartz tablet using a one-step chemical vapor deposition method. The morphology, construction and optical properties of the MoO were characterized by XRD, XPS, SEM, HRTEM and UV-Vis methods, and the possible growth mechanism was also discussed. It can be found that the MoO nanosheets exhibited significantly enhanced visible light photocatalytic reduction capacity with stable recyclability to Cr(vi). The results show that the MoO nanosheets can be used as a cost-effective and recyclable photocatalyst for the removal of Cr(vi) from water. Our findings provide new inspiration for the design of new types of catalysts.