Hydrothermal synthesis and characterization of In3+ modified BiVO4 nanoparticles with enhanced photocatalytic activity

In3+-doped BiVO4 nanoparticles with enhanced visible light activity have been successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal method. The synthesized materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, BET surface areas analysis, and ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectra. In comparison with pure BiVO4, the In3+-doped BiVO4 displayed greater photocatalytic activity in the degradation of methyl blue under visible light illumination. All samples possessed a single monoclinic structure. The introduction of In ions resulted in structural distortion and the decreased band gap energy, producing more electrons and holes for photocatalytic reaction. In the meantime, the doping In ions entails a red shift in the absorption edge and an increase in the intensity of light absorption. The best photocatalytic performance was obtained with the BiVO4 sample containing 5.0 mol% In ions.