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Controlled synthesis of uniform BiVO4 microcolumns and advanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity for the degradation of metronidazole-contained wastewater

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Abstract

Well-defined, uniform bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) microcolumns were synthesized through a refined hydrothermal route. During the fabrication process, a detailed orthogonal design on the synthetic conditions was performed, aiming to optimize the experimental parameters to produce BiVO4 materials (BiVO4 (Opt.)) with the most prominent visible-light-driven photocatalytic efficiency, where the catalytic activities of the synthesized materials were evaluated via the decolorization of methylene blue under visible light irradiation. The BiVO4 (Opt.) were then targetedly produced according to the determined optimal conditions and well characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, ultraviolet and visible diffuse-reflectance spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Compared with the commercial P25-TiO2 photocatalysts, the as-synthesized BiVO4 (Opt.) displayed superior visible-light-driven photocatalytic activities for the degradation of metronidazole-contained wastewater with the presence of H2O2. The degradation efficiency of metronidazole reached up to 70 % within 180 min, leading to a brief speculation on the possibly major steps of the visible-light-driven photocatalytic process. The current study provides a distinctive route to design novel shaped BiVO4 architectures with advanced photocatalytic capacities for the treatment of organic pollutants in the aqueous environment.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Key Scientific and Technological Project of Henan province (Grant No. 132102210129), Basic and Cutting-Edge Technology Research Project of Henan province, People's Republic of China (Grant No. 132330410138 and 102300410098), Innovation Scientists and Technicians Troop Construction Projects of Henan Province, and Plan For Scientific Innovation Talent of Henan Province (Grant No. 134200510014).

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Author notes

  1. Jingyu Sun

    Present address: Center for Nanochemistry (CNC), College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment, Henan Normal University, Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environmental and Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Henan Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Control, Xinxiang, Henan, 453007, China

    Chongfei Yu, Shuying Dong, Jinglan Feng, Limin Hu, Yukun Li & Jianhui Sun

  2. Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PH, UK

    Jingyu Sun

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  1. Chongfei Yu
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  2. Shuying Dong
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  3. Jinglan Feng
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  4. Jingyu Sun
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  5. Limin Hu
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  6. Yukun Li
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  7. Jianhui Sun
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Correspondence to Jianhui Sun.

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Responsible editor: Angeles Blanco

Chongfei Yu and Shuying Dong contributed equally to this work.

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Yu, C., Dong, S., Feng, J. et al. Controlled synthesis of uniform BiVO4 microcolumns and advanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity for the degradation of metronidazole-contained wastewater. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 2837–2845 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-2224-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-2224-6

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