Visible light sensitive BiVO₄–TiO₂ nanocomposites for photocatalytic dye degradation

Abstract

Abstract The hydrothermal approach was used to prepare visible light active BiVO 4 –TiO 2 nanosheet composites in varying molar ratios. The photoluminescence (PL) spectrum, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-Visible Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS), Transmission electroscopy (TEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), were used to analyze the photocatalysts and composites. Photocatalytic activity of BiVO 4 –TiO 2 composites was investigated by decolorizing methylene blue. Out of four different molar ratio BiVO 4 –TiO 2 composites with a molar ratio of 3:1 BiVO 4 TiO 2 composite showed enhanced photocatalytic activity which is further proved by photoluminescence investigation of coumarin and Scavenger test. The DRS of BiVO 4 TiO 2 composite showed red shift in optical absorption. The enhanced photocatalytic activity is due to minimizing electron hole recombination by making composite with TiO 2 .