Effect of pH on the Properties of BiVO₄ by Hydrothermal Synthesis Method

Abstract:

Bismuth vanadate (BiVO₄ ) powders were synthesized using Bi (NO₃)₃.5H₂O and NH₄VO₃ as raw materials, NaOH and HNO₃ for pH adjustment. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction ( XRD ), scanning electron microscopy (SEM ) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra techniques. The results show that the pH of precursor solution has great effect on the composition and morphology of products. Synthetic product was BiVO₄ with two kinds of crystal shape ( monoclinic and tetragonal ) with pH of 3; synthetic product was pure monoclinic phase BiVO₄ when the pH is between 5-9. Whereas, V₂O₅ and Bi₂O₃ appeared when the pH was 11; synthetic product was a mixture of V₂O₅ and Bi₂O₃ with pH of 13, and BiVO₄ don’t exist. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by the degradation of methylene blue solution. It is shown that the synthetic sample has the best photocatalytic ability with pH of 5. The degradation of methylene blue reaches 84.7% when irradiated for 240 min by high pressure mercury lamp, and the sample synthesized at 13 for pH has strong adsorption capacity and poor photocatalytic ability.

• Periodical: Solid State Phenomena (Volume 281)
• Pages: 813-818
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/SSP.281.813
• Online since: August 2018
• Authors: Xin Liu, J.K. Li*
• Keywords: Bismuth Vanadate, Hydrothermal Synthesis, pH Value, Photocatalytic Activity

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