Effective visible light-active boron and europium co-doped BiVO4 synthesized by sol-gel method for photodegradion of methyl orange.
Eu-B co-doped BiVO4 visible-light-driven photocatalysts have been synthesized using the sol-gel method. The resulting materials were characterized by a series of joint techniques, including XPS, XRD, SEM, BET, and UV-vis DRS analyses. Compared with BiVO4 and B-BiVO4 photocatalysts, the Eu-B-BiVO4 photocatalysts exhibited much higher photocatalytic activity for methyl orange (MO) degradation under visible light irradiation. The optimal Eu doping content is 0.8 mol%. It was revealed that boron and europium were doped into the lattice of BiVO4 and this led to more surface oxygen vacancies, high specific surface areas, small crystallite size, a narrower band gap and intense light absorbance in the visible region. The doped Eu(III) cations can help in the separation of photogenerated electrons. The synergistic effects of boron and europium in doped BiVO4 were the main reason for improving visible light photocatalytic activity.
College of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shenyang Ligong University, Shenyang 110165, China. Electronic address: minwang62@msn.com.
Min
M
Wang
Yinsheng
Y
Che
Chao
C
Niu
Mingyan
M
Dang
Duo
D
Dong
D001391:Azo Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D001729:Bismuth / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects; D001895:Boron / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects; D005063:Europium / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects; D008027:Light; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010782:Photolysis; D014638:Vanadates / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry*
D001391:Azo Compounds; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; C091754:bismuth vanadium tetraoxide; D014638:Vanadates; D005063:Europium; C100258:methyl orange; D001895:Boron; D001729:Bismuth
BiVO(4); Eu–B-codoped; Methyl orange solution; Photocatalyst; Visible light