Visible-light-induced blue MoO₃–C₃N₄ composite with enhanced photocatalytic activity

Highlights: • Novel MoO₃–C₃N₄ composite was prepared by a mixing-calcination method. • The MoO₃–C₃N₄ composite shows remarkably enhanced absorption of visible light. • The MoO₃–C₃N₄ composite shows superior visible-light photocatalytic activity. - Abstract: Composite photocatalyst of blue MoO₃/g-C₃N₄ (denoted as MoO₃–C₃N₄) was prepared by a simple mixing-calcination method. The obtained MoO₃–C₃N₄ composite contains a low amount of molybdenum blue and shows remarkably enhanced absorption of visible light and high efficiency for the degradation of methylene blue dye (MB) under visible light. The enhancement of visible light photocatalytic activity in MoO₃–C₃N₄ is attributed to the synergetic effect: (i) the strong and wide absorption of visible light, (ii) the high separation and easy transfer of photogenerated electron–hole pairs at the heterojunction interfaces derived from the match of band position between the g-C₃N₄ and MoO₃