Synthesis of buckhorn-like BiVO4 with a shell of CeO nanodots: Effect of heterojunction structure on the enhancement of photocatalytic activity

A Novel, Simple and Green Way to Fabricate BiVO4 with Excellent Photocatalytic Activity and Its Methylene Blue Decomposition Mechanism

“…We performed reactive species trapping experiments to detect the main oxidative species (h + , ‚O 2´a nd ‚OH) in the photocatalytic reaction to further clarify the photocatalytic mechanism for BiVO 4 . In this study, tert-butanol (t-BuOH, a ‚OH radical scavenger), p-benzoquinone (BZQ, an ‚O 2ŕ adical scavenger), and disodium ethylene diamine tetra acetate (Na 2 -EDTA, a hole scavenger) were used [45,46].…”

“…In recent years, bismuth vanadate (BiVO 4 ) has attracted increasing attention as a promising photocatalyst owing to its non-toxicity, high stability, and excellent photocatalytic activity in organic dye degradation and water splitting [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. It has three crystalline phases [9][10][11][12][13], monoclinic-scheelite, tetragonal-zircon, and tetragonal-scheelite, and exhibits phase transition under certain conditions.…”

“…Among all of theses methods, the aqueous method provides a milder environment for the synthesis of monoclinic BiVO 4 and allows the reaction parameters as well as the properties of the products to be easily tuned. Akihiko et al [30] reported an aqueous process for preparation of highly crystalline monoclinic and tetragonal BiVO 4 by reaction of the layered potassium vanadates KV 3 O 8 and K 3 V 5 O 14 with Bi(NO 3 ) 3 at 20˝C for 3 d. Kohtani et al [31] prepared BiVO 4 by stirring a equimolar mixture of aqueous Bi(NO 3 ) 3¨5 H 2 O and NH 4 VO 3 solutions (0.4 mol/L) containing HNO 3 (1.84 mol/L) with 7.5 g urea at 90˝C for 8 h. Tokunaga et al [10] fabricated the BiVO 4 by an aqueous process at room temperature by hydrolyzing a nitric acid solution of Bi(NO 3 ) 3 and Na 3 VO 4 using bases (Na 2 CO 3 and NaHCO 3 ) to adjust the pH. They found that BiVO 4 (s-m) and BiVO 4 (s-t) could be selectively prepared by adjusting the preparation time, and that BiVO 4 (s-m) obtained using 7.0 g of Na 2 CO 3 showed the highest photocatalytic O 2 evolution, while the activity of BiVO 4 (s-t) was negligible.…”

“…They found that BiVO 4 (s-m) and BiVO 4 (s-t) could be selectively prepared by adjusting the preparation time, and that BiVO 4 (s-m) obtained using 7.0 g of Na 2 CO 3 showed the highest photocatalytic O 2 evolution, while the activity of BiVO 4 (s-t) was negligible. Yin et al [32] synthesized a highly efficient monoclinic BiVO 4 photocatalyst by an aqueous method with the assistance of cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB). However, base or surfactants are generally added to the reactions in order to control the crystal structure of the product, causing the production of redundant alkali wastewater containing refractory organics.…”

“…There are numerous methods reported for the fabrication of BiVO 4 , including hydrothermal treatment [15][16][17][18], sonochemical method [19], sol-gel method [20][21][22], ionothermal treatment [23], microwave-assisted route [24,25], solution combustion synthesis [26], co-precipitation process [27], molten salt method [28], reverse microemulsion process [29], aqueous method [30][31][32][33], etc. Among all of theses methods, the aqueous method provides a milder environment for the synthesis of monoclinic BiVO 4 and allows the reaction parameters as well as the properties of the products to be easily tuned.…”