FABRICATION OF BIPHASE BiVO₄ PARTICLES WITH ENHANCED PHOTOCATALYTIC PERFORMANCE VIA A SURFACTANT-FREE HYDROTHERMAL ROUTE

Abstract

Biphase bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) particles have been synthesized using a surfactant-free hydrothermal strategy. Biphase BiVO4 were formed at [Formula: see text], 5 and 7 with a bandgap between 2.28[Formula: see text]eV and 2.86[Formula: see text]eV, which are those of monoclinic and tetragonal phases, respectively. Photocatalytic tests on the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under visible-light irradiation showed that biphase BiVO4 with both monoclinic and tetragonal structures synthesized at [Formula: see text] achieved enhanced photocatalytic performance in comparison with pure monoclinic and tetragonal phases, which was attributed to the heterostructures leading to low recombination rate of electron–hole pairs.