Facile synthesis of a novel visible-light-driven AgVO3/BiVO4 heterojunction photocatalyst and mechanism insight

In this study, the successful construction of a novel AgVO3/BiVO4 heterojunction photocatalyst via a facile two-step method was reported. The organic dye Rhodamine B (RhB) was chosen as a simulative pollutant to investigate the photocatalytic performances of the samples. The results showed that the AgVO3/BiVO4 heterojunction possessed remarkably enhanced photocatalytic activity under visible-light irradiation compared with individual components. The AgVO3/BiVO4 heterojunction possessed the highest rate constant, which was about 17.2 and 3.1 times higher than those of pure BiVO4 and AgVO3, respectively. Such an enhancement was mainly ascribed to the formation of suitable heterojunction structure with intimate interfacial contact between AgVO3 and BiVO4, resulting in the effective separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. The possible photocatalytic mechanism was also proposed based on the trapping experiments of active species, indicating that h+ and OH played a key role in the photocatalytic degradation process.