Facile hydrothermal synthesis of egg-like BiVO4 nanostructures for photocatalytic desulfurization of thiophene under visible light irradiation

Herein, egg-shape bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) nanostructures were prepared by a one-pot and surfactant-free hydrothermal method using ethylenediamine and hydrazine hydrate as novel reactants. The obtained products were identified by FTIR, XRD, SEM, EDS, and DRS analyzes. Finally, the photocatalytic oxidation activity of as-prepared nanostructures on desulfurization of thiophene dissolved in n-hexane as a model light oil was studied. According to the results, the desulfurization rate was 81% after 180 min, which is higher than the other reported morphologies for pure BiVO4. Also, the trapping experiments of radical active species showed that superoxide (O-2(-)) and holes (h(+)) are the most active species in the process of desulfurization oxidation from thiophene. In addition, the photocatalytic recyclability test indicated that after five times the reuse of the as-synthesized nanostructures does not occur a significant change in the oxidation efficiency.