Facile microwave assisted synthesis of floral-shaped BiVO₄ nano particles for their photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical performances

Floral shaped monoclinic scheelite BiVO₄ (ms-BiVO₄) have been successfully synthesized by a facile microwave assisted method using domestic micro oven. The synthesized material has been subjected to characterized using XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, BET, IR, Raman, PL and UV–Vis DRS techniques to describe the crystalline and morphology nature and photochemical properties of the sample. The floral shaped ms-BiVO₄ possessed strong photoabsorption properties in the visible light with a band gap of ca. 2.3 eV. The analysis report of the ms-BiVO₄ was stated that the catalyst has monoclinic crystalline and high surface area of ca. 24.0 m² g⁻¹. This study denotes that the microwave plays a major impact on the morphology and crystal size. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by the degradation of a methylene blue and phenol aqueous solution in the presence of a small amount of H₂O₂ under visible light illumination. The photocurrent density and more negative flat band potentials also supported to photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting performance of ms-BiVO₄ and the two features could have to improve the recombination life time, electron donor density. The floral shaped ms-BiVO₄ maintained stability with better photocatalytic efficiency even at fifth cycles. The improved photocatalytic activity for methylene blue, phenol degradation and PEC activity of ms-BiVO₄ was associated with the unique crystalline, optical property and morphology.