Morphology control of BiVO4 photocatalysts: pH optimization vs. self-organization

► pH dependent hydrothermal formation of bismuth vanadate nanoplatelets. ► Dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) as template for hierarchical BiVO4 morphologies. ► DMMP-directed growth pathways of BiVO4 architectures are tracked. ► Template-free BiVO4 synthesis (pH 4) affords best dye degradation/water oxidation catalysts.