Abstract—Pristine and Cobalt (Co)-doped MoO
3 nanofilms were synthesized on glass substrates using the spray pyrolysis method. The nanometric pristine MoO
3 films were prepared from the 10
-2 M.L
-1 solution of ammonium molybdate tetrahydrate [(NH4)
6Mo
7O
24,4H
2O] in distilled water. Co-doping at 0.5, 0.75 and 1% was obtained by adding cobalt (II) chloride hexahydrate (Cl
2CoH
12O
6) in the pristine solution. The structure and the morphology of the films were investigated by X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. Two pronounced (020) and (040) peaks corresponding to the orthorhombic structure phase of α-MoO
3 were detected. The AFM observations showed the formation of micro-plates parallel to the surface plane with a roughness ranging from 33 nm to 54 nm. Optical properties were investigated through reflectance, transmittance and photoluminescence measurements. The optical band gap, the Urbach energy and the refractive index were deduced from these measurements. The presence of oxygen vacancies were revealed from the interband transitions in the blue and green domains. Co-doped MoO
3 nanofilms showed ferromagnetic behavior. Photocatalytic degradation of aqueous solution of methylene blue (MB) under UV irradiation in the presence of Co-MoO3 nanofilms has been carried out using UV-visible spectrometer by monitoring the absorption of the solution of MB. The intensity of the absorption peak recorded toward 660 nm was deceased with the increase of the UV-illumination time and the color of the initial MB solution was drastically degraded.
Index Terms—MoO
3 nanofilms, magnetic properties, optical properties, photocatalytic properties, spray pyrolysis method.
N. Benameur is with Laboratoire des Sciences de la Matière Condensée (LSMC), Université Oran 1 Ahmed Ben Bella, Algeria (e-mail: nadir.benameur@yahoo.fr). A. Boukhachem is with El Manar University of Tunis, 2092 Tunis, Tunisia (e-mail: abdelwahab.boukhachem@laposte.net).
M. Ghamnia, M. A. Chakhoum, and M. A. Dahamni are with Laboratory of the Sciences of Condensed Matter, University of Oran 1 Ahmed Ben Bella, Algeria (e-mail: mghamnia@yahoo.fr, chakhoumali@gmail.com).
C. Fauquet is with Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille, University of Marseille, Campus of Luminy, 13288, Marseille, France.
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Cite: N. Benameur, A. Boukhachem, M. Ghamnia, M. A. Chakhoum, M. A. Dahamni, and C. Fauquet, "Investigation of Some Physical Properties of Cobalt Doped MoO3 Nanofilms and Their Effects on the Degradation of the Methylene Blue Solution under UV Illumination," International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 33-39, 2019.
