Synthesis of novel Au/FeVO4/Bi2O3 heterojunction for efficient visible-light-driven photocatalysis

• A novel Au/FeVO4/Bi2O3 heterojunction photocatalyst was prepared for the first time.
• The catalysts showed excellent visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity.
• The mechanism of this photocatalysis system was firstly proposed.

In this paper, a novel Au/FeVO4/Bi2O3 photocatalyst was successfully synthesized by the precipitation and photodeposition method. The obtained photocatalysts were characterized by several techniques, such as X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, UV–vis absorption spectra and photoluminescence. The transmission electron microscopy showed that the Au nanoparticles were finally dispersed on the surface of FeVO4/Bi2O3 heterojunction. The enhanced absorption in visible light region and the efficient photogenerated electron-hole pairs separation were achieved after loading of Au and FeVO4 particles on Bi2O3 photocatalysts, as revealed by UV–vis absorption spectra and photoluminescence measurement. The photocatalytic examination of the photocatalyst was carried out through decomposition of malachite green under visible-light irradiation. The Au/FeVO4/Bi2O3 photocatalyst displayed superior photocatalytic activity for degradation of malachite green. Additionally, a possible catalytic mechanism for Au/FeVO4/Bi2O3 photocatalyst was proposed.