Study of the interfacial charge transfer in bismuth vanadate/reduce graphene oxide (BiVO4/rGO) composite and evaluation of its photocatalytic activity

We prepared unique BiVO4/reduce graphene oxide (BiVO4/rGO) nanocomposite with enhanced photocatalytic ability by hydrothermal method applying Bi(NO3)(3)center dot 5H(2)O, NH4VO3 and graphene oxide as precursors. The physical and chemical attributes were characterized by various analytical techniques; X-ray diffractometer, scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive spectrum analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photon spectroscopy, surface area Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analyzer and photoluminescence. Methylene blue was used as a pollutant and degraded under visible light irradiation; the photocatalytic activity of BiVO4/rGO nanocomposite was observed 29% higher than the pure BiVO4 catalyst. The graphene enhanced the surface adsorption property and increased the charge separation efficiency of photo-created charge carriers; moreover, the photoactivity of BiVO4 increased considerably. The mechanism for the BiVO4/rGO nanocomposite was purposed and discussed critically, which suggests that graphene acts as electron trapper and tuning the bandgap energy led to superior photocatalytic activity.