Photocatalytic water splitting for O2 production under visible-light irradiation on BiVO4 nanoparticles in different sacrificial reagent solutions

Abstract Monoclinic BiVO 4 nanoparticles were prepared through a homogeneous co-precipitation process. The products calcined at different temperatures were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and UV–vis diffused reflectance spectroscopy. The photocatalytic O 2 evolution efficiencies over the BiVO 4 nanoparticles under visible-light ( λ  > 420 nm) irradiation were also investigated comparatively by using AgNO 3 and Fe(NO 3 ) 3 as sacrificial reagents. Experimental results indicate that AgNO 3 is a more effective sacrificial reagent for the photocatalytic O 2 evolution over BiVO 4 than Fe(NO 3 ) 3 due to the efficient separation of the photogenerated electron–hole pairs at the Ag/BiVO 4 interfaces, but the BiVO 4 /Fe(NO 3 ) 3 system is more promising in the aspect of practical applications due to its more steady photoactivity and more convenient reactivation of the photocatalyst.