Bismuth vanadate/MXene (BiVO4/Ti3C2) heterojunction composite: enhanced interfacial control charge transfer for highly efficient visible light photocatalytic activity

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 28; no. 27; pp. 35911 - 35923
• Main Authors: Sajid, Muhammad Munir, Khan, Sadaf Bashir, Javed, Yasir, Amin, Nasir, Zhang, Zhengjun, Shad, Naveed Akhtar, Zhai, Haifa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-07-2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Aqueous solutions; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Beta decay; Bismuth; Bismuth oxides; Catalysts; Catalytic activity; Charge transfer; Current carriers; Dyes; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Electron capture; Energy gap; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Heterojunctions; Holes (electron deficiencies); Light; MXenes; Nanocomposites; Photocatalysis; Photodegradation; Physiochemistry; Recombination; Research Article; Specific surface; Surface area; Synthesis; Titanium; Vanadate; Vanadates; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Nanoparticles; C; Congo red; Ti; Catalysis; Methyl orange; Water purification; Hydrothermal; MXenes; BiVO; BiVO4/Ti3C2
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-13315-9

We have synthesized BiVO
4
/Ti
3
C
2
nanocomposite via a low-cost hydrothermal method and investigate its photocatalytic degradation activity against monoazo (methyl orange) and diazo dye (Congo red) in an aqueous solution under visible light. The physiochemical characterization exhibited that the addition of MXene in pristine BiVO
4
nanocomposite led to an increase in specific surface area and reduction in optical band gap energy. MXene also helps in enhancing visible light response via a higher electron-hole pair generation rate and long lifetime. The synthesized BiVO
4
/Ti
3
C
2
heterojunction composite exhibited 99.5 % degradation efficiency within 60 min for Congo red and 99.1 % for methyl orange solution in 130 min owed to a large specific surface area (1.79 m
2
/g), reduced band gap (1.99 eV), and low recombination rate of charge carriers. The chemical mechanism for BiVO
4
/Ti
3
C
2
nanocomposite proposes that Ti
3
C
2
role-plays as electron capture because of the higher potential of MXenes, tuning band gap energy which paves the way to excellent photocatalytic action. This work opens a new basis for developing Ti
3
C
2
based promising and inexpensive co-catalyst for efficient solar utilization in photocatalytic-related applications in the future.