Photocatalytic Properties of Molybdenum Oxide Photoelectrode Synthesized by Spray Pyrolysis Method

Abstract

The present work reports the photocatalytic properties of pyrolyzed molybdenum oxide thin film. Microstructural analysis reveals clustered nanoaggregates. Structural analysis shows polycrystalline 𝛼-MoO3 phase. The crystallite size, dislocation density, microstrain and stacking faults are found to be 41.27 nm, 5.87 ×10−4 lines/cm2, 8.41 ×10−4 and 1.78, respectively. The optical bandgap is found to be 3.20 eV. Linear sweep voltammetry measurement in 1 M KOH electrolyte reveal significant photocurrent density of 992.39 𝜇A/cm2 at bias of 1 V vs. Ag/AgCl. The reasonable performance of the device suggest that the spray pyrolysis method is promising for preparing photosensitive MoO3 films for photoelectrochemical measurement.