Adsorption and Photocatalytic Processes of Mesoporous SiO2-Coated Monoclinic BiVO4

Duangdao Channei; Auppatham Nakaruk; Wilawan Khanitchaidecha; Panatda Jannoey; Sukon Phanichphant

doi:10.3389/fchem.2018.00415

Adsorption and Photocatalytic Processes of Mesoporous SiO₂-Coated Monoclinic BiVO₄

Front Chem. 2018 Sep 19:6:415. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2018.00415. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Duangdao Channei^{1

2}, Auppatham Nakaruk^{3

4}, Wilawan Khanitchaidecha^{4

5}, Panatda Jannoey⁶, Sukon Phanichphant⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand.
² Research Center for Academic Excellence in Petroleum, Petrochemicals and Advanced Materials, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand.
³ Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand.
⁴ Centre of Excellence for Innovation and Technology for Water Treatment, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand.
⁵ Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand.
⁶ Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medical Science, Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand.
⁷ Materials Science Research Center, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Abstract

The silicon dioxide (SiO₂)-coated bismuth vanadate (BiVO₄) composites as visible-driven-photocatalysts were successfully synthesized by the co-precipitation method. The effects of SiO₂ coating on the structure, optical property, morphology and surface properties of the composites were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Brunauer-Emmette-Teller (BET) measurements. The photocatalytic activity of monoclinic BiVO₄ and BiVO₄/SiO₂ composites were evaluated according to the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye aqueous solution under visible light irradiation. The SiO_2-coated BiVO₄ composites showed the enhancing photocatalytic activity approximately threefold in comparison with the single phase BiVO₄.

Keywords: BET isotherms; BiVO4; SiO2; composite materials; photocatalysis.