BiVO4 hollow spheres with hierarchical microstructures and enhanced photocatalytic performance under visible-light illumination

Abstract

BiVO4 hollow spheres with hierarchical microstructures were synthesized by a hydrothermal process under microwave irradiation. The microstructure, morphology, and optical properties of BiVO4 materials were investigated in detail. The BiVO4 hollow spheres with high surface area are composed of regular surface-orientated nanorods as building units with a diameter of 90 nm and the length of 0.5 to 1.2 μm. As a result of the morphology-dependent advantage such as special hollow structure, regular surface orientation of small-sized nanorods and hierarchical mesopores structure, these hollow spheres exhibit better photocatalytic efficiency in degradation of MO compared with the solid and nanosheets-based spheres. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.