Fabrication of a stable light-activated and p/n type AgVO3/V2O5-TiO2 heterojunction for pollutants removal and photoelectrochemical water splitting
Abstract In this study, TiO2 nanorod arrays (TiO2) was fabricated and modified with the AgVO3 quantum dots (QDs) decorate on interfacing few-layer V2O5 to form a heterojunction material for removal pollutants and photoelectrochemical (PCE) water splitting. The AgVO3/V2O5-TiO2 nanorod arrays (AgVO3/V2O5-TiO2) synthesized by the secondary hydrothermal method were loaded with conductive glass, which facilitated the formation of one-dimensional (1D) nanorod and p-n junction structures. Through instrumentations, to investigate the structural, morphological, optical, photocatalytic and PCE characteristics of the materials. The TiO2 modified by AgVO3 and V2O5 can significantly improve the visible light optical absorption, the reduce the electron-hole pair binding rate and shorten the band gap (3.07-1.41eV) of TiO2. The resulting photocurrent density (116uA/cm2 ) and photodegradation efficiency (rate constant, k = 0.025min− 1) of AgVO3/V2O5-TiO2 are approximately 20 (6uA/cm2) and 5 times (0.005min− 1) higher than those of bare TiO2, respectively. The AgVO3/V2O5-TiO2 achieved a current density of 10mA at an overpotential of 246.2mV and exhibited excellent oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance. The systematic PEC experiments concluded that the optimized of the TiO2 interface by AgVO3 and V2O5 could promote the separation and transport of charge carriers.