Conductive FeSe nanorods: A novel and efficientco-catalyst deposited on BiVO4 for enhanced photocatalytic activity under visible light

Developing efficient co-catalyst is an important task in photocatalysis, because co-catalyst can inhibit the recombination of photogenerated charge-carriers in semiconductors and serve as active sites for targeted reactions. Herein we for the first time introduce a superconducting material, beta-FeSe, as a noble-metal free co-catalyst, which is deposited onto the surface of BiVO4 for the effective degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation (lambda > 420 nm). Owing to its superior electron conductivity, FeSe nanorods deposited BiVO4 with an optimized loading (2 wt%) displays 8-time improvement of the RhB degradation rate than BiVO4 alone. The dye molecules can be completely degraded in 20 min by adding a low concentration of H2O2. It is confirmed that FeSe nanorods can extend light absorption range, minimize charge recombination rate, and serve as active sites simultaneously, thus improving the photocatalytic performance. This work may provide new insights for developing alternative co-catalysts for photocatalytic applications.