Hydrothermal Synthesis and Efficient Visible Light Photocatalytic Properties of InVO4 Hierarchical Microspheres and InVO4 Nanowires

In this work, InVO4 hierarchical microspheres and InVO4 nanowires were successfully synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method. Field emission scanning electron microscopy showed that InVO4 crystals can be fabricated in different morphologies by simply manipulating the reaction parameters of hydrothermal process. The as-prepared InVO4 photocatalysts exhibited higher photocatalytic activities in the degradation of rhodamine B under visible-light irradiation (λ>420 nm) compared with commercial P25 TiO2. Furthermore, the as-synthesized InVO4 hierarchical microspheres showed higher photocatalytic activity than that of InVO4 nanowires. Up to 100% Rh B (3 μmol/L) was decolorized after visible-light irradiation for 40 min. In addition, the reason for the difference in the photocatalytic activities for InVO4 hierarchical microspheres and InVO4 nanowires was studied based on their structures and morphologies.