Preparation and Photocatalytic Activities of Fe/BiVO4 by Low-Temperature Solid State Method

Abstract—Fe/BiVO4 photocatalyst was synthesized via a low-temperature solid state method by using the Bi(NO3)3·5H2O, NH4VO3 and Fe(NO3)3·9H2O as starting materials. And X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-VIS DRS) were used to characterize the as-synthesized Fe/BiVO4. The photocatalytic degradation experiment was carried out by the Methyl Orange (MO) simulated as the polluted water. Then we discussed the influence of reaction time and the mass of photocatalyst to investigate photocatalytic activity of Fe/BiVO4 sample under light. It was demonstrated that the as-synthesized Fe/BiVO4 showed a sheltie structure with monoclinic system whose diameter was about 400 nm~1500 nm. Furthermore, the ability of light absorption could be heightened by doping Fe3+ to induce much better photocatalytic performance. In doping process Fe3+ may be the first replacement with V5+ in the crystal and at the second step Fe3+ was substitute for Bi3+. The increase of Fe3+ content led to narrows of the band gap, red shift, the absorption edge and raises of photocatalytic degradation ability. Keywords-low-temperature solid state; Fe/BiVO4; photocatalysis; methyl orange; doped I