In-situ synthesis of heterostructured BiVO4/BiOBr core-shell hierarchical mesoporous spindles with highly enhanced visible-light photocatalytic performance

Abstract In this study, the BiVO 4 /BiOBr p-n heterojunction composite with special hierarchical structure was successfully prepared by a two-step hydrothermal synthesis method. The primary structure is BiVO 4 /BiOBr core-shell particle; the secondary structure is mesoporous spindle which is formed by BiVO 4 /BiOBr core-shell particles. In addition, BiVO 4 /BiOBr heterojunction is formed through simple in-situ ion conversion under the action of HBr. When the addition of HBr is 0.3 mL, BiVO 4 /BiOBr composite shows the optimal structure and photocatalytic performance. The synergistic effect between the heterojunction electric field and the special hierarchical structure can effectively inhibit the recombination and greatly increase the separation efficiency of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs.