Effective photocatalytic inactivation of Microcystis aeruginosa by Ag3VO4/BiVO4 heterojunction under visible light

In recent years, photocatalytic technology has been increasingly used for the treatment of algal blooms in water bodies due to its high efficiency and environmental advantages. However, conventional semiconductor materials suffer from high electron-hole recombination rate, low carrier mobility and weak surface adsorption ability, which made their photocatalytic performance limited. Therefore, the photocatalytic performance of the composites can be improved by coupling another semiconductor material to form a heterojunction to accelerate electron transfer. In this study, a novel composite Ag3VO4/BiVO4 (ABV) photocatalyst was successfully prepared by in-situ deposition method for the photocatalytic inactivation of Microcystis aeruginosa (M. aeruginosa) under visible light. The photocatalyst showed excellent photocatalytic activity, and the degradation rate of M. aeruginosa chlorophyll a was up to 99.8% within 4 h under visible light. During the photocatalytic degradation, the morphology of algae cells, the permeability of cell membrane, the organic matter inside and outside the cells, the antioxidant system and the soluble protein were seriously damaged. Moreover, three cycle experiments showed that the prepared ABV photocatalyst had high reusability. Finally, a possible mechanism of M. aeruginosa inactivation was proposed. In general, the synthesized ABV photocatalyst can effectively inactivate cyanobacteria under visible light and provided a new method for M. aeruginosa removal in water. [Display omitted] •Synthesis of Ag3VO4/BiVO4 photocatalyst with a simple in situ deposition method.•99.8% efficiency in photocatalytic algae inactivation was achieved within 4 h.•Ag3VO4/BiVO4 was proven to be a highly stable photocatalyst by cycling experiments.•Possible photocatalytic mechanisms of algal removal by Ag3VO4/BiVO4 were proposed.