Surfactant-assisted hydrothermal preparation of monoclinic bismuth vanadate microspheres and visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity

Beautiful monoclinic bismuth vanadate (BiVO₄) microspheres have been fabricated by using the sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) assisted hydrothermal strategy with bismuth nitrate and ammonium metavanadate as a metal source. The physicochemical properties of the materials were characterised by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller and UV-vis techniques. The photocatalytic activities of the as-fabricated BiVO₄ microspheres were measured for the photodegradation of methylene blue under visible-light irradiation. The effects of SDS on the synthesis of BiVO₄ microspheres were investigated. Comparison experiments were conducted and showed that the amount of SDS significantly influences the morphology of the products. The possible formation mechanism of such BiVO₄ microsphere material is also discussed.