Triton X-100 induced cuboid-like BiVO4 microsphere with high photocatalytic performance.

A highly active visible light-induced BiVO4 photocatalyst was prepared by a simple co-precipitation method using ammonia solution as a pH adjustor and Triton X-100 (TX100) as a structure directing agent. The physical properties of the prepared BiVO4 photocatalyst were investigated by several techniques such as X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area measurement, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive analysis (EDS), Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), photoluminescence (PL), and UV-Vis diffused reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). XRD results revealed the existence of a monoclinic scheelite structure in both the unmodified and the modified samples. The TX100 played a crucial role to control the cuboid-like shape morphology of BiVO4. The DRS results showed that the as-prepared cuboid BiVO4 possessed enhanced visible light absorption range compared with that of the unmodified BiVO4. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated via indigo carmine (IC) degradation under visible light irradiation. The modified BiVO4 showed higher photocatalytic efficiency than the unmodified BiVO4 and the commercial P25-TiO2 which could be ascribed to the better charge separation efficiency.