To achieve sustainable sunlight-activated photocatalytic degradation of organic contaminants, development of novel visible light active, earth abundant, and stable metal oxide nanomaterials photocatalyst is very much sought. In this presentation, we describe the synthesis of novel class of metal oxide photocatalysts based on dual heterojunction Pd-decorated m-BiVO4/BiOBr ternary composite. The p-n heterojunction m-BiVO4/BiOBr nanosheets were prepared by CTAB-assisted one-pot hydrothermal method at 80°C. Subsequently, Pd nanodomains were uniformly deposited on the surface of m-BiVO4/BiOBr nanosheets from ethanolic solution of palladium acetate. The pristine m-BiVO4/BiOBr photocatalyst displayed substantially higher photocatalytic activity in degradation of the organic dye, rhodamine B, than pure BiVO4. Integrating Pd nanodomains on the surface of the composite demonstrated significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity. Furthermore, this novel ternary composite showed unsurpassed light-activated degradation of polychlorinated biphenyls in comparison with other established metal oxide photocatalysts, such as TiO2. Our investigation of the mechanism of the reaction indicated that both holes and superoxide charge carriers are responsible for the degradation of the contaminant. This new photocatalyst is well suited as photoanode for oxygen generation in visible light activated water splitting and photocatalytic degradation of various persistent organic pollutants.

Boosting the photocatalytic activity of m-BiVO4 with Pd nanodomains and BiOBr nanosheets dual heterojunction: Highly effecient photocatalytic degradation of polychlorinated biphenyls

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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