High performance B doped BiVO4 photocatalyst with visible light response by citric acid complex method.

A B-doped BiVO4 photocatalyst was synthesized by citric acid complex method and using H3BO3 as the dopant source, and the photocatalyst was characterized with XPS, XRD, SEM, BET and UV-Vis DRS. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by the photocatalytic degradation of a methyl orange (MO) solution under visible light. This assay revealed that both the pure BiVO4 and all of the B doped samples were the monoclinic phase. Doping the BiVO4 with B increased the number of V(4+) and oxygen vacancies, which led to the red shift of the absorbing boundary of the B-doped BiVO4 but had little influence on the morphology and crystal size. The B doping improved the photocatalytic activity, and the highest photocatalytic degradation rate of 98% occurred with a B dopant concentration of 0.04.