Exploring the role of electron-hole scavengers on optimizing the photocatalytic performance of BiVO4

The development of an efficient photocatalyst as a pollution-free technologies has garnered a lot of attention. Herein, monoclinic Bismuth Vanadate (BiVO4) with optimized photodegradation performance was synthesized via solid-liquid state reaction. The performance of developed BiVO4 was examined via degradation of methylene blue. This paper emphasized the role of electronhole scavengers, namely hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), silver nitrate (AgNO3) and methanol (CH3OH) on optimizing the photodegradation activities of BiVO4. The obtained result concluded that the role of electron-hole scavengers is strongly dependent on the surface area of crystal planes of as-prepared BiVO4, namely {010} and {110} planes. The addition of AgNO3 shows the highest photocatalytic degradation activity, yielding 100% degradation of methylene blue in 120 minutes under visible-light-irradiation. The physicochemical properties of BiVO4 were characterized using Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Brunauer-Emmet Teller (BET). (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.