Triton X-100 induced cuboid-like BiVO4 microsphere with high photocatalytic performance

A highly active visible light-induced BiVO4 photocatalyst was prepared by a simple co-precipitation method using ammonia solution as a pH adjustor and Triton X-100（TX100） as a structure directing agent.The physical properties of the prepared BiVO4photocatalyst were investigated by several techniques such as X-ray diffractometer（XRD）,Brunauer-Emmett-Teller（BET） surface area measurement,scanning electron microscopy（SEM）,energy dispersive analysis（EDS）,Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy（FT-IR）,photoluminescence（PL）,and UV-Vis diffused reflectance spectroscopy（DRS）.XRD results revealed the existence of a monoclinic scheelite structure in both the unmodified and the modified samples.The TX100 played a crucial role to control the cuboid-like shape morphology of BiVO4.The DRS results showed that the as-prepared cuboid BiVO4 possessed enhanced visible light absorption range compared with that of the unmodified BiVO4.The photocatalytic activity was evaluated via indigo carmine（IC） degradation under visible light irradiation.The modified BiVO4 showed higher photocatalytic efficiency than the unmodified BiVO4 and the commercial P25-TiO2 which could be ascribed to the better charge separation efficiency.

Rubber sheet strewn with TiO_2 particles: Photocatalytic activity and recyclability

A new method for the preparation of rubber sheet strewn with titanium dioxide particles （TiO2-strewn sheet） is presented. This simple and low cost method is based on the use of TiO2 powder （Degussa P25） being strewn onto the sheet made from rubber latex （60% HA） through a steel sieve. The characteristic of the TiO2-strewn sheet was studied by using scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer （SEM/EDS） and X-ray diffractometer （XRD） techniques. The photocatalytic activity of TiO2-strewn rubber sheet was evaluated using Indigo Carmine （IC） dye as a model for organic dye pollutant in water. The results showed that the TiO2-strewn sheet could degrade IC dye solution under UV light irradiation. The effects of pH, initial concentration, and the intensity of UV light on the photodegradation were also investigated. Kinetics of the photocatalytic degradation was of the first-order reaction. The used TiO2-strewn sheet can be recovered and reused. The recycling uses did not require any cleaning between successive uses and no decline in the photodegradation efficiency was observed compared with freshly prepared TiO2-strewn sheet.