title: Controlled synthesis of uniform BiVO4 microcolumns and advanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity for the degradation of metronidazole-contained wastewater.
abstract: Well-defined, uniform bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) microcolumns were synthesized through a refined hydrothermal route. During the fabrication process, a detailed orthogonal design on the synthetic conditions was performed, aiming to optimize the experimental parameters to produce BiVO4 materials (BiVO4 (Opt.)) with the most prominent visible-light-driven photocatalytic efficiency, where the catalytic activities of the synthesized materials were evaluated via the decolorization of methylene blue under visible light irradiation. The BiVO4 (Opt.) were then targetedly produced according to the determined optimal conditions and well characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, ultraviolet and visible diffuse-reflectance spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Compared with the commercial P25-TiO2 photocatalysts, the as-synthesized BiVO4 (Opt.) displayed superior visible-light-driven photocatalytic activities for the degradation of metronidazole-contained wastewater with the presence of H2O2. The degradation efficiency of metronidazole reached up to 70 % within 180 min, leading to a brief speculation on the possibly major steps of the visible-light-driven photocatalytic process. The current study provides a distinctive route to design novel shaped BiVO4 architectures with advanced photocatalytic capacities for the treatment of organic pollutants in the aqueous environment.
authors.affiliation: School of Environment, Henan Normal University, Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environmental and Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Henan Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Control, Xinxiang, Henan, 453007, China.
authors.forename: Chongfei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Shuying
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Jinglan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Jingyu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Limin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Yukun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jianhui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D001729:Bismuth / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects; D002384:Catalysis; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000737:chemistry; D008027:Light; D008751:Methylene Blue / Q000737:chemistry; D008795:Metronidazole / Q000737:chemistry*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D010782:Photolysis; D014638:Vanadates / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry*; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D001729:Bismuth; D004396:Coloring Agents; D008751:Methylene Blue; D008795:Metronidazole; D014638:Vanadates; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; C091754:bismuth vanadium tetraoxide