Optical properties and visible light-driven photocatalytic activity of Bi11VO19 nanoparticles with δ-Bi2O3-structure

The delta-Bi2O3-structural Bi11VO19 nanoparticles with the average size of similar to 70 nm were fabricated through the Pechini method for a possible photocatalytic application. The crystal structure was investigated by Xray powder diffraction (XRD) and the structural refinement. The as-synthesized sample was also characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), UV-vis spectroscopy and photoluminescence measurements. The experimental results demonstrate that Bi11VO19 nanoparticles have an efficient visible light absorption with band-gap energy of 2.23 eV. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by the photodegradation of the methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation (k > 420 nm) as a function of time. All the results indicate that Bi11VO19 could be a potential photocatalyst driven by visible-light. The effective photocatalytic activity was discussed on the base of the crystal structure characteristic. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.