Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation of Acid Orange 7 by AgBr/BiVO4 under Visible Light

Abstract

Recently, the use of co-catalysts has been an important alternative method to improve the visible light photocatalytic activity of pure semiconductor materials. A novel photocatalyst AgBr/BiVO₄ was prepared by hydrothermal synthesis and chemical deposition method. The degradation of acid orange 7 was enhanced by AgBr/BiVO₄ than pure BiVO₄, which was eliminated 92.96% within 80 min under visible light irradiation. It was found that the doping of AgBr could greatly improve the photocatalytic activity of BiVO₄ by reducing the recombination of electrons and holes. Prepared photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra techniques (UV-vis) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).