BiVO4/MoSe2 Photocatalyst for the photocatalytic Abatement of tetracycline and photoelectrocatalytic water splitting

Abstract

Here, BiVO4/MoSe2 (BMS) heterojunction material of various mole ratios was prepared via hydrothermal method. BMS photocatalyst is solar light active, has better charge separation, good surface area, lower recombination rate, and narrow band gap of ∼1.5 eV as affirmed through different characterization techniques. The synthesized photocatalyst possesses fern nano-petal-like morphology. The photocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic experiments were conducted under solar light for tetracycline (TC) degradation and hydrogen production via water splitting, respectively to test out the efficiency of the photocatalyst. Under the illumination of sunlight for 150 min, the 3:1 BiVO4:MoSe2 (31BMS) had the maximum degradation efficiency of 91.9 % (rate constant 0.0147 min−1). The GC-MS analysis was also conducted to examine the intermediates and products formed during the photocatalytic degradation of TC. Moreover, the photoelectrochemical hydrogen evolution experiment revealed a significantly improved photocurrent density of 0.433 mA/cm2 for 31BMS at 1.23 V vs RHE, under simulated solar light in comparison to BiVO4 (0.0045 mA/cm2) and MoSe2 (0.0322 mA/cm2). No change in current density was found for ∼330 min, thus confirming the stability of the electrode, with constant H2 evolution rate of 3.59 mmol/cm2. The reusability efficacy of the photocatalyst was tested for 7 cycles and the stability was confirmed by XRD, BET and FESEM after the reaction.