Premium
Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance in Ag + ‐Induced BiVO 4 /β‐Bi 2 O 3 Heterojunctions
Author(s) -
Shan Lianwei,
Liu Yuteng,
Ma Chengguo,
Dong Limin,
Liu Lizhu,
Wu Ze
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
european journal of inorganic chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.667
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1099-0682
pISSN - 1434-1948
DOI - 10.1002/ejic.201500936
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , heterojunction , dopant , rhodamine b , tetragonal crystal system , photochemistry , visible spectrum , chemistry , doping , absorption (acoustics) , ion , diffuse reflectance infrared fourier transform , materials science , optoelectronics , crystal structure , catalysis , crystallography , organic chemistry , composite material , biochemistry
BiVO 4 /β‐Bi 2 O 3 photocatalysts have been fabricated by a facile Ag doping route. The method involves the substitution of the lattice Bi 3+ ions in BiVO 4 with dopant Ag + ions, and the supplanted Bi 3+ ions generate the β‐Bi 2 O 3 (tetragonal phase) under thermal treatment in air. TEM observations and XRD results confirm that BiVO 4 and β‐Bi 2 O 3 coexist in the Ag‐doped BiVO 4 . The diffuse‐reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) results demonstrate that all of the BiVO 4 /β‐Bi 2 O 3 photocatalysts show enhanced absorption in the visible region between λ = 550 and 650 nm, and the absorption intensity increases as the Ag content increases. The experimental results reveal that these BiVO 4 /β‐Bi 2 O 3 nanostructures exhibit much higher visible‐light photocatalytic activities than that of BiVO 4 for the degradation of the model dye Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible‐light irradiation. The enhanced photocatalytic efficiencies are attributed to charge transfer between BiVO 4 and β‐Bi 2 O 3 , which significantly promotes the separation of the photogenerated electrons and holes and, therefore, enhances the photocatalytic properties of the heterojunction. Furthermore, the doped Ag ions might play an important role in this improvement. This approach is expected to be beneficial for the design and optimization of heterojunction photocatalysts.