Bi11VO19-VO2 microstructure and its visible light driven photocatalytic performance in organic dye degradation

A cubic Bi11VO19 -VO2microstructure was successfully synthesized by a simple precipitation method at 65oC for 24 hours and calcination at 400oC for 6 hours. The crystal structure was investigated by Xray powder diffraction... [ view full abstract ]

A cubic Bi₁₁VO₁₉ -VO₂microstructure was successfully synthesized by a simple precipitation method at 65^oC for 24 hours and calcination at 400^oC for 6 hours. The crystal structure was investigated by Xray powder diffraction (XRD) and characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), UV–vis spectroscopy, raman and FTIR. The as-prepared samples has a light yellow color with a band-gap energy of 2.9eV which indicates that it is suitable for photcatalytic degradation under visible light irradiation. The photocatalytic activity performance was evaluated by the photodegradation of the methylene blue (MB) as a cationic dye and methyl orange(MO) as the anionic dye under visible light irradiation (λ > 420 nm). The results indicate that Bi₁₁VO₁₉- VO₂has the potential to be used as photocatalyst in the degradation of cationic dye, but not the anionic dye. The recyclability and active species were also studied via using the scavenger method for the cationic dye degradation.