Synthesis of novel photocatalytic InVO 4–TiO 2 thin films with visible light photoactivity

Abstract

Novel InVO 4–TiO 2 thin films were synthesized by introducing nano InVO 2 into the TiO 2 thin films via a sol–gel method. The photocatalytic efficiency of InVO 4–TiO 2 thin films was investigated by photodegrading of methyl orange in aqueous solution under visible light irradiation. A wide range of characterization techniques, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), UV–vis absorption spectroscopy (UV–vis), were applied to characterize the obtained thin films. The results indicated that the InVO 4–TiO 2 thin films consist of uniform anatase TiO 2 crystals of 70–80 nm with highly dispersed orthorhombic InVO 4 nanocrystals. The decoloration of methyl orange results illustrated that the InVO 4–TiO 2 thin films with 0.5 wt.% InVO 4 showed the best photoactivities under visible light irradiation, the decoloration rate reached 32.5% after irradiated for 15 h. The InVO 4–TiO 2 thin films exhibited photoactivity under visible light after doped InVO 4 in the TiO 2 films.