Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic application of H3PW12O40/BiVO4 composite photocatalyst

A series of H3PW12O40/BiVO4 composite with different H3PW12O40 loadings were prepared using a hydrothermal and impregnation method. The prepared composites were characterized by XRD, Raman, SEM, XPS, and DRS techniques. The bandgap of the composite was narrower compared with the as-prepared pure BiVO4. As a novel photocatalytic material, the photocatalytic performance of the H3PW12O40/BiVO4 composite was investigated by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye solution under visible light irradiation and compared with that of pure BiVO4. The results revealed that the introduction of H3PW12O40 could improve the photocatalytic performance and different concentrations of H3PW12O40 resulted in different photocatalytic activities. The highest activity was obtained by the sample with a loading HPW concentration of 10 wt%. The reason for the enhanced photocatalytic activities of H3PW12O40/BiVO4 samples was also discussed in this paper. Moreover, the H3PW12O40/BiVO4 composites retained the catalytic activity after four repeated experiments.