Hydrothermal synthesis of meso/macroporous BiVO4 hierarchical particles and their photocatalytic degradation properties under visible light irradiation

An ordered hierarchical meso/macroporous monoclinic bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) particle was fabricated for the first time by a simple two-step melamine template hydrothermal method followed by calcination. The physiochemical parameters of as-prepared porous materials were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, Raman, Barrett-Emmett-Teller, and UV-vis techniques. The nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurement and pore size distribution curve suggest that meso/macropores exist in these hierarchical microarchitectures. Further, it is found that melamine plays a significant role in the formation of porous BiVO4 particles, and when a known amount of melamine was added, the surface area and pore size of such porous BiVO4 particles were increased. The photocatalytic activities of the as-prepared hierarchical BiVO4 samples were measured for the photodegradation of Congo red aqueous dye solution under visible light irradiation. Surprisingly, the porous BiVO4 particles showed outstanding photocatalytic activities than polycrystalline BiVO4 sample. The possible enhancement of such catalytic performance has also been further discussed.