Structure, Morphology and Photocatalytic Activity of Novel Hydrothermal ZnBiVO 4
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Structure, morphology and photocatalytic activity of novel hydrothermal ZnBiVO4 B. B. Kale,b Jin-Ook Baeg,a* Sang Mi Lee,a Sang-Jin Moon,a Hyunju Chang,a and Chul Wee Leea a Advanced Chemical Technology Division, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technolog, Yusong, Daejon 305-600, Republic of Korea b Centre For Materials For Electronics Technology (C-MET), Ministry of Information and Technology, Govt. of India, Panchawati off Pashan Road, Pune–411008, India ABSTRACT We offer a synthesis of novel nanocrystalline ZnBiVO4 using hydrothermal method. The same novel catalyst was synthesized using solid-state route for the first time. We have exemplified the hydrothermal synthesis of this new compound using zinc nitrate, bismuth nitrate and ammonium metavanadate. The ZnBiVO4 was synthesized using zinc oxide, bismuth oxide and vanadium oxide by solid-state route. X-ray difractometry for its structural study and Scanning Electron Microscopy for the particle morphology characterized the resultant product. The prima facie observations revealed the formation of tetragonal crystallites of hydrothermal ZnBiVO4 ranging from 40-50nm. The BET surface area of hydrothermal ZnBiVO4 was increased 9 times as compared to solid state ZnBiVO4. The steepness of the UV-visible DRS (Diffuse Reflectance Spectra) absorption edge, suggests the good crystalline nature of the material. From the photodecomposition of H2S, it is noteworthy that the hydrogen evolution was enhanced by 70% in hydrothermal ZnBiVO4. INTRODUCTION Photodecomposition of H2S is of industrial importance since H2S occurs widely in natural gas fields and is produced in large quantities as an undesirable byproduct in the coal and petroleum industry. The H2S cleavage process might be used in industrial procedures where H2S or sulfides are formed as a waste whose rapid removal and conversion in to fuel, i.e., hydrogen, are desired. To enhance the photodecomposition of H2S, researchers have focused their research on development of an active photocatalyst. Extensive work has been carried out in the development of ultraviolet driven photocatalysts for water and H2S splitting[1-3]. However, there is a demand for highly efficient photocatalyst for photoproduction of hydrogen. It is indispensable to control the band structure of photocatalyst for the development of efficient photocatalyst materials. We have demonstrated CdS and allied chalcogenides for the photodecomposition of H2S, recently[4-6]. Many researchers have reported the doping method for CdS, ZnS, VS, VS4, WO3[7-12]. The photophysical properties and photovoltaic efficiencies of Nb2O5-Bi2O3, Ga2O3-In2O3, SrNb2O7, Sr2Ta2O7, SnO2-TiO2, ZnS-CdS, CdS-CdSe and (AgIn)xZn2(1-x)S2 [13-18] have been studied extensively. Several nanocrystalline photocatalysts have been reviewed by Beydoun et al. [19], where he has described the effect of nanoparticles on photocatalytic activity. Recently, CdS-TiO2 nanocomposite film [20] has been used for the photodecomposition of H2S. The stable and suitable metal oxide support is lacking in
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