Facile synthesis of Se/BiVO4 heterojunction composite and evaluation of synergetic reaction mechanism for efficient photocatalytic staining of organic dye pollutants in wastewater under visible light

• Published in: Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics Vol. 31; no. 22; pp. 19599 - 19612
• Main Authors: Sajid, Muhammad Munir, Khan, Sadaf Bashir, Javed, Yasir, Amin, Nasir, Shad, Naveed Akhtar, Zhang, Zhengjun, Zhai, Haifa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-11-2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Bismuth oxides; Catalytic activity; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemical properties; Chemistry and Materials Science; Current carriers; Degradation; Dyes; Electron paramagnetic resonance; Electron recombination; Heterojunctions; Hydrothermal crystal growth; Materials Science; Nanocomposites; Optical and Electronic Materials; Oxidation; Oxidizing agents; Photocatalysis; Photocatalysts; Pollutants; Reaction mechanisms; Vanadates; Wastewater; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy
• ISSN: 0957-4522; 1573-482X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-020-04487-0

The novel Se/BiVO
4
heterojunction nanocomposites were successfully synthesized by facile hydrothermal method. The physical and chemical properties of photocatalyst samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDS, FTIR, XPS, BET, UV–Vis DRS, PL, EIS, and EPR techniques. The photocatalytic activity of Se/BiVO
4
was measured for the degradation of pollutant, Crystal Violet (CV) organic dye. It was observed that Se/BiVO
4
photocatalyst with mole ratio 2:1 exhibited superior degradation of 98.69% of CV dye within 50 min using visible light. The electron paramagnetic resonance spectra show that OH
·
radical being strong oxidizing agent is a major active agent species in the degradation of CV over Se/BiVO
4
@(2:1). The tremendous photo memory and stable nature of the Se/BiVO
4
photocatalysts endorsed their usage as cost-effective photocatalysts for practical applications. Based on these results, the enhanced photocatalytic activities could be owed to the improved optical absorption and efficient separation and migration of photo-created charge carriers with the decreased recombination of electrons–holes resulting from composite effect. The possible photocatalytic mechanism of Se/BiVO
4
was critically discussed based on the experimental results.