Flake-like InVO4 modified TiO2 nanofibers with longer carrier lifetimes for visible-light photocatalysts

Abstract

Highly efficient solar light absorption capabilities and quantum yields in photocatalysts are key to their application in photocatalytic fields. Towards this end, TiO₂/InVO₄ nanofibers (NFs) have been designed and fabricated successfully by a one-pot electrospinning process. The resulting TiO₂/InVO₄ NFs display excellent visible-light photocatalytic activity, owing to their prominent visible-light absorption and electron–hole separation properties. Time-resolved transient PL spectroscopy demonstrated that the TiO₂/InVO₄ NFs display longer emission decay times (22.0 ns) compared with TiO₂ NFs (15.5 ns), implying that the heterojunction can remarkably suppress the electron–hole recombination and promote the carrier transfer efficiency. With tailored heterostructure features, TiO₂/InVO₄ NFs exhibit superior visible-light photodegradation activity, and after 80 min of visible-light irradiation, almost 95% of RhB molecules can be decomposed by TiO₂/InVO₄ NFs, while only 18% of RhB molecules can be decomposed by pure TiO₂ NFs.