Optical properties and visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity of Bi8V2O17 nanoparticles

Abstract

Bi8V2O17 (4Bi2O3·V2O5) nanoparticles with the uniform size of about 50 nm were fabricated through the Pechini method. The crystal structure was investigated by X-ray powder diffraction and the structural refinement. The surface of the as-synthesized samples was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The optical properties, band structure, and the degradation mechanisms were discussed. The experimental results demonstrate that Bi8V2O17 nanoparticles have an efficient visible-light absorption with band-gap energy of 1.85 eV and a direct allowed electronic transition. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by the photodegradation of the methylene blue (MB) under visible-light irradiation (λ > 420 nm) as a function of time. These results indicate that Bi8V2O17 could be a potential photocatalyst driven by visible light. The effective photocatalytic activity was discussed on the base of the crystal structure characteristic.