Enhanced Photoluminescence and Photocatalytic Efficiency of La-Doped Bismuth Molybdate: Its Preparation and Characterization

Herein, a systematic study of the enhanced physicochemical properties of lanthanide doped (La-doped) bismuth molybdate (Bi₂MoO₆) is performed. For this purpose, Bi₂MoO₆ and La-doped Bi₂MoO₆ were prepared by the sol-gel method. BiCl₃, Na₂MoO₄^·2H₂O, and LaCl₃·7H₂O were taken as the main precursors while sodium dodecyl sulfate was used as a surfactant. Both Bi₂MoO₆ and La-doped Bi₂MoO₆ were calcined at 650 °C for 2 h. These prepared materials were characterized by spectroscopic techniques such as UV-VIS, FT-IR, XRD, photoluminescence, XPS, along with other techniques such as SEM, TEM, TGA, etc. The investigation of luminescence behavior revealed that the La-doped Bi₂MoO₆ nanocomposite exhibited much greater luminescence compared to the undoped Bi₂MoO₆. The photocatalytic behavior of the prepared materials was explored by studying the degradation of methylene blue (MB) at room temperature. The degradation of MB with Bi₂MoO₆ and La-doped bismuth molybdate were observed to be 68% and 75% @ 45 s, respectively, indicating an enhancement of catalytic performance due to the La doping.