BiVO4 Microplates with Oxygen Vacancies Decorated with Metallic Cu and Bi Nanoparticles for CO2 Photoreduction

BiVO 4 -based composites are of great interest as photocatalysts for water oxidation, CO 2 reduction, and organic pollutant degradation, but their low charge separation efficiency and poor photocatalytic activity still need to be resolved. Herein, metallic Cu and Bi nanoparticle-co-decorated BiVO 4 (Cu–Bi/BiVO 4 ) microplates were constructed via a simple solvothermal method, and their photocatalytic activity was evaluated by photocatalytic CO 2 reduction with H 2 O vapor. The obtained results demonstrated that the Cu–Bi/BiVO 4 composites exhibited high visible-light absorption ability, a narrow band gap, rich surface oxygen vacancies, efficient charge separation, and fast charge transportation. These unique characteristics enable the Cu–Bi/BiVO 4 composites to perform excellent photocatalytic activity for CO 2 reduction into CO/CH 4 under visible-light illumination. The CO production rate of optimized Cu–Bi/BiVO 4 is about 19- and 4-fold higher than those of pristine BiVO 4 and Bi/BiVO 4 composites, respectively. The present work demonstrated that metallic Cu and Bi nanoparticle-co-decorated BiVO 4 microplates exhibited promising application in photocatalytic CO 2 reduction into valuable chemical fuels.