Synthesis of novel photocatalytic InVO4–TiO2 thin films with visible light photoactivity

Novel InVO4–TiO2 thin films were synthesized by introducing nano InVO2 into the TiO2 thin films via a sol–gel method. The photocatalytic efficiency of InVO4–TiO2 thin films was investigated by photodegrading of methyl orange in aqueous solution under visible light irradiation. A wide range of characterization techniques, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), UV–vis absorption spectroscopy (UV–vis), were applied to characterize the obtained thin films. The results indicated that the InVO4–TiO2 thin films consist of uniform anatase TiO2 crystals of 70–80 nm with highly dispersed orthorhombic InVO4 nanocrystals. The decoloration of methyl orange results illustrated that the InVO4–TiO2 thin films with 0.5 wt.% InVO4 showed the best photoactivities under visible light irradiation, the decoloration rate reached 32.5% after irradiated for 15 h. The InVO4–TiO2 thin films exhibited photoactivity under visible light after doped InVO4 in the TiO2 films.