The effect of pH on the photocatalytic performance of BiVO4 for phenol mine sewage degradation under visible light

Abstract The morphology of BiVO 4 was successfully controlled via adjusting pH values by an ethylene glycol solvent method to degrade phenol mine sewage. The as-prepared samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, XPS, UV–vis and PL, respectively. It was indicated that, initial pH values play an important role on the morphology of BiVO 4 . The results illustrated that the photocatalytic activities of the BiVO 4 towards phenol degradation was improved with the increasing of pH values. The sample prepared at pH being 11 exhibited the highest photocatalytic degradation of phenol, being about 95.6% in 5 h visible light irradiation. The improvement of photocatalytic activity mainly is due to the changed morphology, higher light absorption ability, narrower band gap and lower recombination ratio of photo-induced electron-hole pairs. The radical species responsible for degradation of phenol were also performed and the main radical species are O 2 − and OH.