Efficient Degradation of Benzene over LaVO4/TiO2 Nanocrystalline Heterojunction Photocatalyst under Visible Light Irradiation

Abstract

A nanocrystal heterojunction LaVO₄/TiO₂ visible light photocatalyst has been successfully prepared by a simple coupled method. The catalyst was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption−desorption, transmission electron microscopy, UV−vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectra, photoluminescence, and electrochemistry technology. The results showed that the prepared nanocomposite catalysts exhibited strong photocatalytic activity for decomposition of benzene under visible light irradiation with high photochemical stability. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of LaVO₄/TiO₂ may be attributed to not only the matched band potentials but also interconnected heterojunction of LaVO₄ and TiO₂ nanoparticles.