Hydrothermal processing for obtaining of BiVO4 nanoparticles

Nano-sized monoclinic BiVO4 particles were effectively obtained by hydrothermal processing and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ultraviolet–visible absorption spectroscopy, micro-Raman scattering spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The XRD patterns revealed that the hydrothermal conditions (180 °C over a wide range of processing time) are favorable for the formation of monophasic monoclinic BiVO4 nanoparticles. The TEM results represented that samples as-prepared in this route had a decrease of grain size with the processing time increased from 10 to 20 h. It also indicated that a relationship between its local structures and the hydrothermal time exists based upon the spectral characterization.