Additive‐free solvothermal synthesis of peanut‐like BiVO₄ powders with enhanced photocatalysis activity

Abstract

Key words peanut-like BiVO 4 , visible-light-driven photocatalysts, solvothermal method, Rhodamine B (RhB).Monoclinic peanut-like BiVO 4 products have been successfully synthesized by a solvothermal method. The volume of CH 3 COOH and the concentration of NH 3 ·H 2 O were found to play important roles in the formation of this morphology. The optimal condition for preparation of highly active peanut-like BiVO 4 samples are the volume of CH 3 COOH, which was 5 ml, and the concentration of NH 3 ·H 2 O, which was 2 mol/L. The as-prepared samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, DRS, BET, and their photocatalytic activity was evaluated by photocatalytic decolorization of a Rhodamine B (RhB) aqueous solution under visible-light irradiation. The results demonstrated that BiVO 4 with peanut-like morphology was better than that of other BiVO 4 samples for photodegradation of RhB.

Hierarchical BiVO 4 micro/nanostructures synthesised via a solvothermal route and photodegradation of Rhodamine B

“…Based on the experimental results as well as previous reports [17–19], the probable formation process of the varied BiVO 4 nanostructures prepared with different volume ratios of EG to water in our current experiment can be preliminarily illustrated as shown in Fig. 3.…”

“…To obtain these desired micro/nanostructures, organic additives (surfactants, polymers and chelating agents) were generally employed to modify microstructures [9][10][11][12][13][14]. A few additive-free or template-free strategies have been successfully developed [15][16][17]. In view of the strong correlation between the properties of BiVO 4 and its morphology, structure and size, it is of great significance to find an effectively controllable synthesis of desired hierarchical structures.…”

Preparation of a Leaf-Like BiVO4-Reduced Graphene Oxide Composite and Its Photocatalytic Activity

“…Recently, more and more attention has been paid to the synthesis of BiVO 4 of different sizes and shapes. Since the morphology of BiVO 4 will significantly impact its photocatalytic performance, researchers have synthesized BiVO 4 in various morphological shapes such as BiVO 4 nanosheets [9,10], peanut-like BiVO 4 [11], spherical BiVO 4 [12], flower-like BiVO 4 [13], three-dimensional acicular sheaf BiVO 4 [14], and tube-like BiVO 4 [8], so as to better tune the photocatalytic capacities of materials and thus realize enhanced degradation of pollutants. However, pure BiVO 4 has limited efficiency in migration of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, which restricts its application in practical situations [15].…”