Efficient photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue over BiVO4/TiO2 nanocomposites

BiVO4/TiO2 nanocomposites were successfully synthesized by coupling the modified sol-gel method with hydrothermal method. The samples were physically characterized X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET)-specific surface area, UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry, zeta potential, and photoluminescence techniques. The BiVO4/TiO2 nanocomposites exhibited good photocatalytic activity in degradation of methylene blue under simulated solar light irradiation. The photodegradation of methylene blue demonstrated that 0.5BiVO(4)/0.5TiO(2) photocatalyst exhibited much enhanced photoactivity than pure BiVO4 and TiO2. Based on the obtained results, the as-prepare BiVO4/TiO2 nanocomposite possessed great adsorptivity of methylene blue, extended light adsorption range, and efficient charge separation properties. Overall, this work could provide new insights into the fabrication of a BiVO4/TiO2 composite as high performance photocatalyst and promise as a solar light photocatalyst for dye wastewater treatment. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.