Efficient Sunlight-Induced Methylene Blue Removal over One-Dimensional Mesoporous Monoclinic BiVO4 Nanorods

Sunlight-driven mesoporous BiVO(4) nanorods with monoclinic structure have been successfully synthesized via a simple hydrothermal method. The as-prepared one-dimensional BiVO(4) nanorods exhibited high specific surface area due to their unique mesoporous structure. The mesoporous BiVO(4) nanorods possessed strong photoabsorption properties in the visible light region as well as the ultravisible region, and the band gap was estimated to be ca. 2.18 eV. The photocatalytic activities were evaluated by decolorization of methylene blue under sunlight irradiation. Photocatalytic tests demonstrated that the decolorization rate of as-prepared mesoporous BiVO(4) nanorods was even up to 98.8% in 180 min, much better than that prepared by solid-state reaction (23.1%) and the commercial TiO(2) (Degussa P25) (14.2%) under the same conditions, due to their higher specific surface area and appropriate band gap. Moreover, the unique BiVO(4) nanorods exhibit high stability after five photocatalytic degradation recycles.