Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue over BiVO4/BiPO4/rGO heterojunctions and their artificial neural network model

BiVO4/BiPO4/rGO photocatalysts were prepared via hydrothermal methods to remove organic pollutants from water. BiPO4, BiVO4, and rGO are detected in ternary composites and in close contact with each other. Introducing BiVO4 and rGO to pure BiPO4 broadened its light absorption range and accelerated its charge transformation, which greatly enhanced the photocatalytic degradation performance of BiVO4/BiPO4/rGO. The degradation rates of methylene blue over BiPO4 and BiVO4/BiPO4/rGO were 46.5 % and 94.4 % at pH 9, respectively. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy and radical trapping proved that the main active species was & BULL;O2-in the presence of O2 or & BULL;OH in the absence of O2. In addition, an artificial neural network model of the photocatalytic process was constructed to optimize the photocatalytic performance of the prepared sample. & COPY; 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.