Atmosphere-dependent synthesis of BiVO₄ and its photocatalytic performance on methylene blue dye degradation

The search and demand of efficient photocatalyst for wastewater treatment has put researchers on edge of finding new suitable, stable, non-toxic and easily available catalyst materials. In view of this, the present work describes the synthesis of the bismuth vanadate (BiVO₄) structures as an efficient photocatalyst via wet chemical route for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye. The sample has been synthesized in a closed system (autoclave) and in open air respectively. The effect of the atmosphere on the structural and morphological features has been studied. The role of the same on the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) has been studied in detail. The reaction mechanism and the kinetic modeling have been done to predict the mechanism responsible for the dye degradation. The results predict that the pseudo-second-order (PSO) is better suitable mechanism for dye degradation as compared to pseudo first order (PFO).