Abstract—Monoclinic BiVO
4 powders were synthesized from Bi(NO
3)
3∙5H
2O and NH
4VO
3 in dilute HNO3 by homogenous co-precipitation followed by calcination at different temperatures ranging from 350 to 700oC. The effects of increase in the calcination temperatures over the changes in the physicochemical parameters were evaluated by characterization techniques such as XRD, UV-Vis spectroscopy, Raman analysis and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM). The parameters responsible for the photochemical water oxidation were studied in detail and it was confirmed from our results that crystalline size and band gap of the BiVO
4 powders are the main responsible for its activity. It is also confirmed from the changes in the intensities and shift in the peak position of Raman analysis, the effect of calcination temperatures over the variations such as lone pair distortions on Bi3+ and changes of V-O bond length in the local structure of BiVO
4.
Index Terms—Band gap, crystal size, monoclinic BiVO
4, raman analysis.
The authors are with the Politecnico di Torino, Piedmont, Italy (email: sitaramanjaneya.thalluri@polito.it).
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Cite:Thalluri S. R. M., Martinez-Suarez C., Virga A., Russo N., and Saracco G., "Insights from Crystal Size and Band Gap on the Catalytic Activity of Monoclinic BiVO4," International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications vol. 4, no. 5, pp. 305-309, 2013.
