Preparation of a Microspherical Silver-Reduced Graphene Oxide-Bismuth Vanadate Composite and Evaluation of Its Photocatalytic Activity

A novel Ag-reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) (AgGB) ternary composite was successfully synthesized via a one-step method. The prepared composite was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area measurement, Raman scattering spectroscopy, and ultraviolet-visible diffuse-reflection spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS). The results showed that bulk monoclinic needle-like BiVO4 and Ag nanoparticles with a diameter of approximately 40 nm formed microspheres (diameter, 5–8 μm) with a uniform size distribution that could be loaded on rGO sheets to facilitate the transport of electrons photogenerated in BiVO4, thereby reducing the rate of recombination of photogenerated charge carriers in the coupled AgGB composite system. Ag nanoparticles were dispersed on the surface of the rGO sheets, which exhibited a localized surface plasmon resonance phenomenon and enhanced visible light absorption. The removal efficiency of rhodamine B dye by AgGB (80.2%) was much higher than that of pure BiVO4 (51.6%) and rGO-BiVO4 (58.3%) under visible light irradiation. Recycle experiments showed that the AgGB composite still presented significant photocatalytic activity after five successive cycles. Finally, we propose a possible pathway and mechanism for the photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B dye using the composite photocatalyst under visible light irradiation.