Reduction of V2O5 thin films deposited by aqueous sol–gel method to VO2(B) and investigation of its photocatalytic activity

•Preparation of VO2(B) films by aqueous sol–gel method and their characterization.•Influence of annealing conditions on the mechanism of V2O5 film reduction.•The VO2(B) films with energy gap of 2.8eV show photocatalytic activity.•The films with higher roughness exhibit increased photoactivity. A way of preparation of VO2(B) thin films by reduction of V2O5 films synthesized from an aqueous sol–gel system has been developed and photocatalytic properties of the obtained films were studied. The reduction was performed by annealing of the V2O5 film in vacuum as well as in H2/Ar atmosphere, which was followed by temperature dependent XRD. It has been shown that the reduction is influenced by the layered-structure of the vanadium oxides. It is a two-step process, where the mixed-valence vanadium oxide V4O9 is first formed before reaching the VO2(B) phase. The film microstructure was characterized by SEM and AFM and the valence states of vanadium in VO2(B) films were evaluated by XPS. The VO2(B) polymorph shows an energy band-gap around 2.8eV and it exhibits photocatalytic properties. It was measured by following the degradation of rhodamine B under UVA as well as metalhalogenide lamp irradiation, which has similar spectral distribution as natural sunlight. The VO2(B) films show distinct photoactivities under both lamps, although they were found to be more active under the UVA irradiation. The film annealed under reducing hydrogen atmosphere, which exhibits higher granularity and surface roughness, shows higher photoactivity than the vacuum-annealed film.