Electrically Driven Hydrogenation of MoO₃ Nanoparticles in Protonic Acid for Oxidative Degradation of Micropollutants

Improving the hole in transition metal oxide (TMO) is vital in developing high-efficiency oxidants for the oxidative degradation of micropollutants. In this work, we report an electrically driven system for the proton hydrogenation of MoO3 nanoparticles, where proton acid is employed as the proton source, and power supply is used for electron generation. Experimental results suggest that hole concentration increases sharply after hydrogenation, and hydrogenated MoO3 (H-MoO3) is efficient for the oxidative degradation of typical antibiotics and various dyes without any auxiliary reagents (hydrogen peroxide, peroxymonosulfate) and additional energy (light, heat, ultrasonication). First-principles calculations and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry results demonstrate that narrowed bandgap resulting in the increased hole to react with micropollutants is ascribed to the high-efficiency oxidative degradation of H-MoO3. This research provided a good idea for the structural regulation of TMO and the design of oxidants for the removal of industrial micropollutants.