TY - JOUR
T1 - Facile construction of heterostructured BiVO4-ZnO and its dual application of greater solar photocatalytic activity and self-cleaning property
AU - Balachandran, Subramanian
AU - Prakash, Natarajan
AU - Thirumalai, Kuppulingam
AU - Muruganandham, Manickavachagam
AU - Sillanpää, Mika
AU - Swaminathan, Meenakshisundaram
PY - 2014/5/21
Y1 - 2014/5/21
N2 - Development of coupled semiconductor oxides makes a significant advancement in catalytic functional materials. In this article, we report the preparation of nanobundle-shaped BiVO4-ZnO photocatalyst by a simple hydrothermal process followed by thermal decomposition. The photocatalyst was characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The XRD pattern confirmed formation of monoclinic scheelite BiVO4 and the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO. HR-SEM images show nanobundle-like structure, and the size of the nanospheres ranges from 20 to 40 nm. BiVO4-ZnO has increased absorption in the UV and visible region when compared to ZnO. The catalytic activity of BiVO4-ZnO was evaluated by the photodegradation of Acid Violet 7 (AV 7), Evens Blue (EB), and Reactive Red 120 (RR 120). The results revealed that the photocatalytic activity of BiVO4-ZnO was much higher than that of ZnO, BiVO4, and TiO2-P25 under natural sunlight. BiVO4-ZnO is more advantageous than ZnO and BiVO 4 in the degradation of AV 7, EB, and RR 120 because it has maximum efficiency at neutral pH 7. BiVO4-ZnO was found to be stable and reusable without appreciable loss of catalytic activity up to four consecutive cycles. The self-cleaning property of BiVO4-ZnO has been evaluated using contact angle measurements. Our results provide some new insights on the performance of solar active photocatalysts on environmental remediation.
AB - Development of coupled semiconductor oxides makes a significant advancement in catalytic functional materials. In this article, we report the preparation of nanobundle-shaped BiVO4-ZnO photocatalyst by a simple hydrothermal process followed by thermal decomposition. The photocatalyst was characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The XRD pattern confirmed formation of monoclinic scheelite BiVO4 and the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO. HR-SEM images show nanobundle-like structure, and the size of the nanospheres ranges from 20 to 40 nm. BiVO4-ZnO has increased absorption in the UV and visible region when compared to ZnO. The catalytic activity of BiVO4-ZnO was evaluated by the photodegradation of Acid Violet 7 (AV 7), Evens Blue (EB), and Reactive Red 120 (RR 120). The results revealed that the photocatalytic activity of BiVO4-ZnO was much higher than that of ZnO, BiVO4, and TiO2-P25 under natural sunlight. BiVO4-ZnO is more advantageous than ZnO and BiVO 4 in the degradation of AV 7, EB, and RR 120 because it has maximum efficiency at neutral pH 7. BiVO4-ZnO was found to be stable and reusable without appreciable loss of catalytic activity up to four consecutive cycles. The self-cleaning property of BiVO4-ZnO has been evaluated using contact angle measurements. Our results provide some new insights on the performance of solar active photocatalysts on environmental remediation.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84901228058&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/ie404287m
DO - 10.1021/ie404287m
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84901228058
SN - 0888-5885
VL - 53
SP - 8346
EP - 8356
JO - Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research
JF - Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research
IS - 20
ER -