Preparation of BiVO4@Fiber Composites and the Photocatalytic Property for Degradation of Organic Dyes under Visible-Light

Wei Lu, Deshuang Yu, Xiaochen Zhou, Yan Zhang, Jianqiang Yu

.

DOI: 10.4236/gsc.2011.13016                

Abstract

In this article, a novel BiVO4@fibers composite photocatalyst was prepared by a process that monoclinic scheelite BiVO4 nano/micro particles were in situ formated onto fiber materials. The structure, morphology and photophysical properties of the composite materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, respectively. The immobilization of BiVO4 photocatalyst on fibers reduced the particle size of the photoactive phase, and a few visible-light absorption abilities. The decomposition of a non-biodegradable dye Red FN-3G was selected to examine the photocatalytic activity of the composite photocatalyst. It was found that the formation of composite materials of BiVO4 with fibers didn’t decrease the photocatalytic activity with comparison to that of pure BiVO4. Moreover, it demonstrated that when adjusting the dye solution into about pH = 3, the highest efficiency of dye degradation over the fiber composite material can be obtained.

Keywords

BiVO4@Fibers Composite Photocatalyst, Red FN-3G Decomposition, Photocatalysis

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	A. Fujishima and K. Honda, “Electrochemical Photolysis of Water at a Semiconductor Electrode,” Nature, 1972, Vol. 238, pp. 37-38. doi:10.1038/238037a0
[2]	M. R. Hoffmann, S. T. Martin, W. Choi and D. W. Bah-nemann, “Environmental Applications of Semiconductor Photocatalysis,” Chemical Reviews, Vol. 95, No. 1, 1995, pp. 69-96. doi:10.1021/cr00033a004
[3]	A. Mills and S. L. Hunte, “An Overview of Semiconduc-tor Photocatalysis,” Journal of Photochemistry and Pho- tobiology A: Chemistry, Vol. 108, No. 1, 1997, pp. 1-35. doi:10.1016/S1010-6030(97)00118-4
[4]	P. M. Ajayan, O. Stephan, Ph. Redlich and C. Colliex, “Carbon Nanotubes as Removable Templates for Metal Oxide Nanocomposites and Nanostructures,” Nature, Vol. 375, 1995, pp. 564-567. doi:10.1038/375564a0
[5]	S. Kohtani, M. Koshiko, A. Kudo, K. Tokumura, Y. Ishi- gaki, A. Toriba, K. Hayakawa and R. Nakagaki, “Photo-degradation of 4-Alkylphenols Using BiVO4 Photocatalyst under Irradiation with Visible Light from a Solar Si-mulator ,” Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, Vol. 46, No. 3, 2003, pp. 573-586. doi:10.1016/S0926-3373(03)00320-5
[6]	J. Yu and A. Kudo, “Effects of Structural Variation on the Photocatalytic Performance of Hydrothermally Syn-thesized BiVO4,” Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 16, No. 16, 2006, pp. 2163-2169. doi:10.1002/adfm.200500799
[7]	S. Kohtani, J. Hiro, N. Yamamoto, A. Kudo, K. Toku- mura and R. Nakagaki, “Adsorptive and Photocatalytic Properties of Ag-Loaded BiVO4 on the Degradation of 4-Nalkylphenols under Visible Light Irradiation,” Mate-rialsCatalysis Communications, Vol. 6, No. 3, 2005, pp. 185-189. doi:10.1016/j.catcom.2004.12.006
[8]	L. Zhou, W. Z. Wang, S. W. Liu, L. S. Zhang, H. L. Xu and W. Zhu, “A Sonochemical Route to Visible-Light- Driven High-Activity BiVO4 Photocatalyst,” Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical, Vol. 252, No. 1-2, 1995, pp. 120-124. doi:10.1016/j.molcata.2006.01.052
[9]	F. Wang, M. Shao, L. Cheng, J. Hua and X. Wei, “The Synthesis of Monoclinic Bismuth Vanadate Nanoribbons and Studies of Photoconductive, Photoresponse and Pho- tocatalytic properties,” Materials Research Bulletin, Vol. 44, No. 8, 2009, pp. 1687- 1691.
[10]	Y. Z. Wang and C. Hu, “A Study on Fixed Technology in the Reaction of Heterogeneous Photocatalytic Degradation of Organics,” Chinese Environmental Sciences, Vol. 19, No. 7, 1998, pp. 40-42.
[11]	H.-Q. Jiang, H. Endo, H. Natori, M. Nagai and K. Ko-bayashi, “Fabrication and Photoactivities of Spherical- Shaped BiVO4 Photocatalysts through Solution Combus-tion Synthesis Method,” Journal of the European Ceramic Society, Vol. 28, No. 15, 2008, pp. 2955-2962. doi:10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2008.05.002
[12]	H. Liu, R. Nakamura and Y. Nakato, “Promoted Photo- Oxidation Reactivity of Particulate BiVO4 Photocatalyst Prepared by a Photoassisted Sol-Gel Method,” Journal of the Electrochemicl Society, Vol. 152, No. 11, 2005, pp. G856-G861. doi:10.1149/1.2051868
[13]	M. Goti?, S. Musi?, M. Ivanda, M. ?oufek and S. Popo- vi?, “Synthesis and Characterisation of Bismuth(III) Va- nadate,” Journal of Molecular Structure, Vol. 744-747, No. 3, 2005. pp. 535-540.
[14]	X. Chen, Z. Zhang and S. W. Lee, “Selective Solution- Phase Synthesis of BiOCl, BiVO4 and δ-Bi2O3 Nanocrys- tals in the Reaction System of BiCl3-NH4VO3-NaOH,” Journal of Solid State Chemistry, Vol. 181, No. 1, 2008, pp. 166-174. doi:10.1016/j.jssc.2007.10.031
[15]	A. Kudo, K. Omori and H. Kato, “A Novel Aqueous Process for Preparation of Crystal Form-Controlled and Highly Crystalline BiVO4 Powder from Layered Vana- dates at Room Temperature and Its Photocatalytic and Photophysical Properties,” Journal of the American Che- mical Society, Vol. 121, No. 49, 1999, pp. 11459-11469. doi:10.1021/ja992541y
[16]	S. Tokunaga, H. Kato and A. Kudo, “Selective Preparation of Monoclinic and Tetragonal BiVO4 with Scheelite Structure and Their Photocatalytic Properties,” Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 13, No. 12, 2001, pp. 4624-4628. doi:10.1021/cm0103390