Preparation of bamboo-shaped BiVO4 nanofibers by electrospinning method and the enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

•BiVO4 nanofibers were synthesized by electrospinning process.•The morphology of the nanofibers calcined at 500 °C for 1 h was bamboo-shaped.•The diameter of the fibers was only ca. 200 nm.•The nanofibers own enhanced photocatalytic activity.

Bamboo-shaped BiVO4 nanofibers have been prepared by the electrospinning process followed by the subsequent calcine of the electrospun precursor fibers. The samples were characterized by thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry (TG–DSC), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Micro-Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and UV–vis absorbance spectroscopy. The results revealed that the bamboo-shaped BiVO4 nanofibers with the diameter about 200 nm belonged to the monoclinic scheelite phase and exhibited the excellent photodegrading properties of methylene blue (MB) solution under the visible light irradiation.

Graphical abstractThe precursor gel fibers (a) displayed a well-fined one-dimensional (1D) fiber structure. The samples calcined at 400 °C (b) do not show an obvious change. But the morphology of the samples calcined at 500 °C (c, d and f) transformed from smooth fibrous to bamboo-shape and the diameter shrank to 200 nm. However, the fibers were cracked to rods by calcined at 600 °C (e).Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide