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Synthesis of BiVO4/TiO2 composites and evaluation of their photocatalytic activity under indoor illumination

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Abstract

BiVO4/TiO2 composites with different weight ratios have been prepared by coprecipitation-based reactions followed by either thermal or hydrothermal treatment with the aim of evaluating the TiO2 photosensitization by BiVO4. The obtained materials present in all cases the desired monoclinic phase of BiVO4 and anatase phase of TiO2. Visible light absorption increased with increasing amount of bismuth vanadate. XPS results reveal the surface enrichment of Ti with respect to the bulk composition in samples characterised by a higher content of BiVO4. The photocatalytic activity of the prepared materials was tested for the degradation of isopropanol in the gas phase under indoor illumination conditions. Although none of the composites was able to improve the activity of TiO2, the low BiVO4 containing samples appear as more suitable for further synthesis tuning.

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Acknowledgments

The Italian Foreign Affairs Ministry (Ministero degli Affari Esteri, MAE, Italy) and the National Research Council (CNR, Rome, Italy) are gratefully acknowledged for the financial support of this work in the framework of a “Progetto Grande Rilevanza Italia-Slovenia 2013”. G.L. thanks the Erasmus-Socrates project of the European Union and the University of Padova for funding mobility to Slovenia. The University of Nova Gorica gratefully acknowledges EC for financial support from the SUNGREEN project (FP7-REGPOT-2011-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Environmental Research, University of Nova Gorica, Vipavska 13, 5000, Nova Gorica, Slovenia

    Giulia Longo, Fernando Fresno & Urška Lavrenčič Štangar

  2. IENI-CNR, Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università degli Studi di Padova, via Marzolo 1, 35131, Padova, Italy

    Giulia Longo & Silvia Gross

Authors
  1. Giulia Longo
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  2. Fernando Fresno
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  3. Silvia Gross
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  4. Urška Lavrenčič Štangar
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Correspondence to Fernando Fresno.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Longo, G., Fresno, F., Gross, S. et al. Synthesis of BiVO4/TiO2 composites and evaluation of their photocatalytic activity under indoor illumination. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 11189–11197 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2624-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2624-2

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