Sonochemical assisted hydrothermal synthesis of pseudo-flower shaped Bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) and their solar-driven water splitting application

Abstract

Bismuth vanadate (BiVO) is a well-known photocatalyst due to its lower bandgap (E) and visible electromagnetic light absorption capacity. Herein, we reported the pulse ultra-sonochemical assisted hydrothermal approach to synthesize S-BiVO. For the comparison purpose, H-BiVO is also synthesized via conventional hydrothermal approach. The surface morphology of S-BiVO through scanning electron microscope (SEM) indicates condensed microarrays (MAs) having pseudo-flower shapes. The energy dispersive X-rays (EDX) spectrum also confirmed the elemental percent composition of Bi, V and O in BiVO. X-rays diffraction (XRD) pattern further confirmed the monoclinic scheelite phase of S-BiVO. Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectrum showed Bi-O and Bi-V-O vibrational bands at 1382 and 1630cm, respectively. The diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) indicated absorption edge at ∼515nm, corresponds to bandgap value (E) of 2.41eV, which is suitable range for water splitting applications. The photocurrent density from water splitting under artificial 1 SUN visible light source found at 60 and 50μA/cm for S-BiVO and H-BiVO, respectively. The stability test through chronoamperometry showed that S-BiVO was more stable than H-BiVO. It can be depicted from the growth mechanism that ultrasonication played a definite role in the overall synthesis of pseudo-flower shaped S-BiVO MAs.

One-step synthesis of composite material MWCNT@BiVO4 and its photocatalytic activity

“…Among them, BiVO 4 is the most representative one, which has attracted extensive attention for its narrowed energy gap, 41 higher chemical stability, strong redox ability, and non-toxic and environmentally friendly features. [7][8][9] However, BiVO 4 also has several shortcomings, such as weak adsorption capacity of target substances and easy recombination of photon-generated carriers. Therefore, it is necessary to further improve the visible photocatalytic activity of BiVO 4 .…”

Shape Controlled Synthesis of Copper Vanadate Platelet Nanostructures, Their Optical Band Edges, and Solar-Driven Water Splitting Properties

“…Photoelectrochemical (PEC) conversion of solar energy into chemical forms is a major scientific challenge and is extensively pursued in research due to its promising environmental energy sustainability. Owing to exceptional optical properties and ease in synthesis, numerous metal oxide semiconductors such as TiO 2 1 – 3 , Cu 2 O 4 , Fe 2 O 3 5 , ZnO 6 , WO 3 7 , and BiVO 4 8 etc. have been investigated as photoelectrode materials for solar-driven PEC water splitting.…”

“…These are ternary oxides, which are composed of three atoms with varied elemental ratios. Among Mx(VO 4 )y, pristine BiVO 4 and their hybrid have been investigated by various researchers due to their fascinating optoelectrical characteristics with a band gap ~2.40 eV 8 , 21 . Lately, copper vanadate has been explored for lithium-ion batteries 22 , 23 , dye degradation 24 , and water splitting applications 18 , 25 due to their excellent optical and electrical properties, as well.…”

Synthesis, characterization, and relaxometry studies of hydrophilic and hydrophobic superparamagnetic Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles for oil reservoir applications

“…The comparison of XRD profiles reveals that peak intensities decrease after surface functionalization of magnetite NPs due to the amorphous nature of capping agents (PEG-400 and OLA), which may indicate the coating of SPIONs 37 . The average crystallite sizes of magnetite NPs as evaluated using Debye−Scherrer equation 38 A survey of PEG-Fe3O4, OLA-Fe3O4, and Fe3O4 spectra (Fig. 3a) shows the presence of Fe2p, N1s, O1s, and C1s features.…”