Visible Light-Assisted Photocatalysis Using Spherical-Shaped BiVO4 Photocatalyst

In this research work, we reported the synthesis of a spherical-shaped bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) photocatalyst using a cost-effective, simple, chemical hydrothermal method and studied the effect of deposition temperatures on the structural, morphological, optical properties, etc. The XRD result confirmed the monoclinic scheelite phase of BiVO4. An XPS study confirmed the occurrence of Bi, V, and O elements and also found that Bi and V exist in +3 and +5 oxidation states, respectively. SEM micrographs revealed the spherical-shaped morphology of the BiVO4 photocatalyst. Optical investigation showed that the bandgap of the BiVO4 photocatalyst varied between 2.25 and 2.32 eV. The as-synthesized BiVO4 photocatalyst was used to study the photocatalytic degradation of crystal violet (CV) dye under visible light illumination. The photocatalytic degradation experiment showed that the degradation percentage of crystal violet dye using BiVO4 reached 98.21% after 120 min. Mineralization of crystal violet dye was studied using a chemical oxygen demand analysis.