A 3D fishbone-like fluorinated BiVO4 as a reducing end to enhance photocatalytic activity

Photo-induced conversion of reactive oxygen species (ROS) has emerged as an effective means of removing persistent organic pollutants (POPs), but its key step of directed electron transfer from the active site to the stable O₂ molecule still possesses considerable challenges. In this work, we synthesized a novel 3D fishbone-like fluorinated BiVO₄ photocatalyst and explored the photocatalytic removal of dye-like species. The optimally fluorinated BiVO₄ with narrower band gap has an effective detoxification effect on MB and shows a degradation performance of 1.8 times higher than that of the original. Fluoride ions doped in the lattice and adsorbed on the surface lead to a slight increase of the electron density of BiVO₄ to elevate the conduction band potential and accelerate free radical activation. In addition, the degradation process of MB dye by F-BiVO₄ has been proposed. F-BiVO₄ material is proved as a promising reducing end of the F-BiVO₄/g-C₃N₄ heterojunction system.