Microwave-assisted synthesis of monoclinic–tetragonal BiVO4 heterojunctions with enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline

Abstract

Recently, the controlled synthesis of semiconductor photocatalysts has received much attention in the field of pollutant degradation. In this study, BiVO₄ photocatalysts of different crystalline phases (monoclinic scheelite (M-phase), tetragonal zircon (T-phase) and monoclinic–tetragonal heterojunction (M–T)) have been successfully synthesized via a facile microwave-assisted method. The crystalline phases of the products were controlled by switching the organic additives. The photocatalytic activities of the as-prepared samples were evaluated by the degradation of tetracycline (TC) under visible light irradiation. The obtained results clearly showed that the M–T BiVO₄ exhibited the highest photodegradation ratio of the three samples of 80.5% in 1 h, which can be attributed to the heterojunction structure between different phases.