Effects of cation concentration on photocatalytic performance over magnesium vanadates

A series of magnesium vanadates (MgV 2O6, Mg2V 2O7, and Mg3V 2O8) were synthesized to investigate the effect of cation concentration on photocatalytic performance. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, field emission-scanning electron microscopy, UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and fluorescence spectroscopy. The photocatalytic O2 evolution experiments under visible light irradiation showed Mg2V 2O7 exhibits the best performance, while Mg3V 2O8 has the lowest activity. The density functional theory calculations indicated that the lowest unoccupied states of Mg3V 2O8 are the mostly localized by the cation layers. The fluorescence spectra and fluorescence decay curves gave evident performances of excited states of magnesium vanadates and pointed out MgV 2O6 has a very short excited electron lift-time. Mg2V 2O7 performs high photocatalytic activity because of its high electron mobility and long electron life-time.