Premium
Crystal Facet Dependence of Water Oxidation on BiVO 4 Sheets under Visible Light Irradiation
Author(s) -
Wang Donge,
Jiang Hongfu,
Zong Xu,
Xu Qian,
Ma Yi,
Li Guoling,
Li Can
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201001636
Subject(s) - high resolution transmission electron microscopy , facet (psychology) , monoclinic crystal system , transmission electron microscopy , materials science , crystal (programming language) , photocatalysis , crystallography , irradiation , crystal structure , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , chemistry , catalysis , physics , organic chemistry , psychology , social psychology , personality , engineering , computer science , nuclear physics , programming language , big five personality traits
Monoclinic BiVO 4 crystals with preferentially exposed (040) facets were hydrothermally synthesized by using a trace amount of TiCl 3 as the directing agent; this function was confirmed by X‐ray diffraction patterns (XRD) and high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The effects of the directing agent TiCl 3 and the pH values applied during synthesis have been studied, and the optimized BiVO 4 sample with highly exposed (040) facet could be obtained by using 1.2 at. % of TiCl 3 as the directing agent at a pH value of 2. Some complementary techniques were also applied to exclude the effects of the structural and physical property changes, such as surface area and hydrophilicity. The photocatalytic activity of oxygen evolution on BiVO 4 is found to be proportionally correlated with the exposed surfaces of the (040) facet. It is assumed that the active sites with a BiV 4 structure on the exposed (040) facet is assigned to be responsible for the high activity of O 2 evolution.