Yttrium vanadate coupled with cobalt ferrite nanocrystals for enhanced photocatalytic H2 production under visible light irradiation

Abstract

Yttrium vanadate (YVO4) nanocrystals are synthesized by a modified sol-gel route followed by coupling with 4.0–16.0 wt% of cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) nanoparticles. The synthesized heterostructures were laboured for photocatalytic H2 generation in a water/glycerol system below visible light in the presence of platinum cocatalyst traces. The addition of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles has improved the physicochemical characteristics of YVO4 in terms of light harvesting and photoinduced charge separation. The 12.0 wt% CoFe2O4/YVO4 indicates the narrowest bandgap of 2.5 eV and the highest visible-light activity with a slight reduction of its surface area from 185 to 168 m2 g−1. Moreover, the H2 evolution rate has augmented utilizing this photocatalyst at 2.557 mmol g−1h−1 compared to 0.044 mmol g−1h−1 over the pure YVO4. Furthermore, the dose optimization of 12% CoFe2O4/YVO4 at 2.0 gL−1 has endorsed the photocatalytic generation of H2 to 3.389 mmol g−1h−1 with recyclability of 97% after the fifth cycle.