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

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Abstract

We prepared unique BiVO4/reduce graphene oxide (BiVO4/rGO) nanocomposite with enhanced photocatalytic ability by hydrothermal method applying Bi(NO3)3·5H2O, 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.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Dr. Zhengjun Zhang for supporting characterization techniques and keen interest, Tsinghua University; Beijing, China. We are thankful to HEC Pakistan for IRSIP scholarship.

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The authors did not receive financial support for this work from any agency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Government College University, Allama Iqbal Road, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan

    Muhammad Munir Sajid, Naveed Akthar Shad & Nasir Amin

  2. Advanced Key Laboratory for New Ceramics, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Muhammad Munir Sajid & Zhengjun Zhang

  3. Department of Physics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Yasir Javed

  4. Institute for Advanced Study, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, Guangdong, China

    Sadaf Bashir Khan

  5. Laboratory of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems of Ministry of Education and Guangdong Province, College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 5180603, Guangdong, China

    Sadaf Bashir Khan

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  1. Muhammad Munir Sajid
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Sajid, M.M., Shad, N.A., Javed, Y. et al. Study of the interfacial charge transfer in bismuth vanadate/reduce graphene oxide (BiVO4/rGO) composite and evaluation of its photocatalytic activity. Res Chem Intermed 46, 1201–1215 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11164-019-04029-2

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