Facile synthesis of Bi/BiVO 4 composite ellipsoids with high photocatalytic activity

BiVO -based composites have been extensively investigated as promising photocatalysts due to their strong visible-light absorption. In this work, novel Bi/BiVO composites with excellent photocatalytic performance were firstly fabricated via a simple hydrothermal method, using BiVO as a self-sacrificing template and N H ·H O as a reductant. In the hydrothermal process, partial BiVO was reduced to form metallic Bi nanoparticles, which were deposited on the surface of BiVO . The Bi content in the Bi/BiVO composites could be easily tuned by controlling the concentration of the N H ·H O solution. The photocatalytic performance of the Bi/BiVO composites was examined by studying the photodecomposition of RhB under visible-light illumination. The experimental results revealed that the Bi/BiVO composites exhibit high visible-light photocatalytic activity for the photodegradation of RhB compared with that of pure BiVO . This enhanced photocatalytic activity likely originates from the strong visible-light absorption and high separation efficiency of photogenerated electron-hole pairs by Bi nanoparticles. This work presents a new approach for the development of Bi/BiVO composite photocatalysts with high activity and stability.