Preparation,Characterization and Photocatalytic Activities of Lanthanide Oxide-loaded BiVO4 Catalysts

摘要

1.Introduction BiVO4 with scheelite structure was found to have photocatalytic activity for O2 evolution and 4-nonylphenol degradation under visible light irradiation [1]. However, the activity of the neat BiVO4 was still low owing to its poor adsorption ability [2]. In order to enhance the photocatalytic activity of the host BiVO4, the transition metal and noble metal co-catalysts had been used to modify the BiVO4. Several recent literatures indicated that rare earth had been regarded as active cocatalysts and dopants [3]. In our best knowledge, preparation of rare earth-loaded BiVO4 photocatalyts and their photocatalytic properties had not yet been reported. In this work, rare earth-loaded BiVO4 (RE3+-BiVO4, RE=La, Ce, Ho, Yb, Eu, Sm, Nd and Gd) were synthesized by impregnation method and methylene blue (MB) was used as a model compound to evaluate the photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation.