Photoelectrocatalytic performance of WO3/BiVO4 toward the dye degradation

The photocatalytic (PC) and photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) properties of WO3/BiVO4 photo-anode for organic dye degradation under visible light irradiation were studied. The performance of the electrodes was investigated by monitoring the % degradation of methylene blue (MB) as a dye sample with UV-vis spectroscopy. To study the charge transfer:rate improvement, a Cu2O electrode was employed as a photocathode. In addition, Ag nanoparticles were deposited on both WO3/BiVO4 and Cu2O electrodes to study the effect on the catalytic activity for MB degradation. SEM, XRD and XPS techniques were used to confirm the morphologies and composition of the modified electrodes. The effects of pH and the irradiation wavelengths were investigated to understand the condition of MB degradation process. The highest performance for MB degradation was attained when WO3/BiVO4 was used as a photo-anode and Cu2O/Ag as a photo-cathode under the PEC process. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.