Hydrothermal preparation of BiVO4 powders

Abstract Monoclinic bismuth vanadate (BiVO 4 ) powders were prepared by a mild hydrothermal method, using an aqueous solution of bismuth nitrate and two different vanadium sources (V 2 O 5 and NaVO 3 ). The characterization of as-prepared BiVO 4 was carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results revealed that in the present work the temperature of 200 and 140 °C are sufficient to prepare phase pure BiVO 4 powders from V 2 O 5 and NaVO 3 , respectively. The BiVO 4 sample prepared from V 2 O 5 consists of an agglomeration of small rod-like particles. When BiVO 4 was prepared from NaVO 3 , monoclinic BiVO 4 powder with a plate form is obtained.