Fabrication of BiVO4 nanosheets decorating by V2O5 nanoparticles for the enhanced photocatalytic desulfurization of thiophene

BiVO4 nanosheets were synthesized using the hydrothermal approach with the support of sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate. V2O5 nanoparticles (NPs) at different percentages were uniformly distributed on BiVO4 nanosheets through the impregnation process to construct n-n heterojunction V2O5/BiVO4 nanocomposites. The synthesized V2O5/BiVO4 nanocomposite photocatalyst was assessed for photocatalytic oxidation of thiophene under visible illumination. TEM images and XRD exhibited that the synthesized nanocomposites are constituted from orthorhombic and V2O5 monoclinic BiVO4 and V2O5 NPs well-distributed onto the sheet-like structure with the particle diameters of 10–20 nm. The combination of V2O5 over BiVO4 nanosheets led to a remarkable boost in thiophene conversion ability from 45 % to 100 %. The 10 % V2O5/BiVO4 photocatalyst exhibited the highest photocatalytic desulfurization ability (100 %) within 90 min. The rate constant value over 10 %V2O5/BiVO4 photocatalyst was determined at about 0.0311 min−1, which was 2.9 folds larger than that of bare BiVO4 nanosheets (0.0107 min−1). The enhanced photocatalytic ability over V2O5/BiVO4 nanocomposites was implied in the design of heterojunction with the synergistic effect. The n-n heterojunction significantly enhanced the lifetime and separation efficiency of the photoinduced carriers in the V2O5/BiVO4 nanocomposites.