Solvothermal synthesis of BiPO4 nanorods/MWCNT (1D-1D) composite for photocatalyst and supercapacitor applications

A novel BiPO4/MWCNT (1D-1D) composite was synthesized by a simple one step solvothermal approach. The crystallanity, morphology, and photophysical properties of the samples were characterized by XRD, Raman, SEM, TEM, XPS, UV-vis spectroscopic techniques. The nanostructured BiPO4/MWCNT composite showed large surface area and the incorporation of MWCNT caused a red-shift of BiPO4 in (ultraviolet) UV region. A maximum specific capacitance of 504 F g(-1) at a scan rate of 5 mV s(-1) was obtained for BiPO4/MWCNT composite. BiPO4/MWCNT composite shows good capacity retention (94%) upon cycling over 1000 cycles. The BiPO4/MWCNT composite exhibits better photocatalytic activity than pure BiPO4 under UV light irradiation in view of degrading methyl orange (MO) as target pollutant. The degradation of MO could get 95% in BiPO4/MWCNT photocatalysts under optimum reaction conditions. The improved photoactivity of BiPO4/MWCNT could be attributed to effective separation of photoinduced hole-electron pairs between host BiPO4 and MWCNT. This study offers a new fabrication strategy to prepare BiPO4 based materials that can be used in energy storage devices and environmental applications. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l.