Synthesis of Silicate‐Bridged Heterojunctional SnO2/BiVO4 Nanoplates as Efficient Photocatalysts to Convert CO2 and Degrade 2,4‐Dichlorophenol

Abstract Bismuth vanadate (BiVO 4 ) is a promising visible‐light responsive photocatalyst, whose photocatalytic activity can be significantly improved by increasing its surface area and utilizing its high‐energy‐level photogenerated electrons effectively. In this work, 2D BiVO 4 nanoplates with large specific surface area are successfully fabricated by hydrothermal conversion with the pre‐prepared BiOCl nanosheets as precursors. To improve the photogenerated charge separation, resulted BiVO 4 nanoplates are further coupled with nanocrystalline SnO 2 to construct heterojunctions, then silicate bridges are introduced between the interfaces of BiVO 4 and SnO 2 . The amount‐optimized silicate‐bridged SnO 2 /BiVO 4 nanocomposite exhibit exceptional visible‐light photocatalytic activities, by ≈7‐time and 4‐time enhancements for CO 2 conversion to CH 4 and for 2,4‐dichlorophenol degradation, respectively, compared to bare BiVO 4 nanoparticles. The significantly enhanced charge separation is verified by steady‐state and time‐resolved surface photovoltage responses and produced hydroxyl radical amounts. Moreover, it is deduced through designed photo‐electrochemical experiments that the introduced SnO 2 acts as a proper‐energy platform capable of accepting the photogenerated electrons of BiVO 4 nanoplates, and the constructed silicate bridges further facilitate the electron transfer between BiVO 4 and SnO 2 . This work opens up a feasible route to synthesize visible‐light‐driven 2D bismuth‐based nano‐photocatalysts with high photocatalytic activities for efficient fuel production and environmental remediation.