enhanced photocatalytic activity of a novel visible-light-induced

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.