Fabrication of BiVO<Subscript>4</Subscript>: Effect of structure and morphology on photocatalytic activity and its methylene blue decomposition mechanism

BiVO₄ photocatalysts were synthesized by a surfactant free hydrothermal method without any further treatments, and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS), Raman spectroscopy, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area techniques. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated for the degradation of the methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. Seen from the structural and morphological characterization, it is stated that the obtained samples present monoclinic phase, and the pH value has significant influence on the morphologies. The enhanced photocatalytic performance was associated with its crystallinity, unique morphology, band gap energy, BET specific surface area, surface charge and adsorption capacity. The recycle experiments results show that the BiVO₄ photocatalysts have excellent photo-stability, and we deduced a possible mechanism by examining the effects of the active species involved in the photocatalytic process for MB photocatalytic degradation.