Preparation of Nanoparticulate TmVO₄ by Sol-Gel Method and Its Visible-Light Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract

TmVO₄ precursor gel was prepared by sol-gel method using thulium oxide, nitric acid, ammonium metavanadate and citric acid as main raw materials. Then the xerogel was calcined at 600–800 °C in muffle furnace to prepare TmVO₄. The prepared samples were characterized by thermogravimetric differential scanning analysis (TG-DSC), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy(DRS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR). The visible-light photocatalytic activity of TmVO₄ was studied by using methylene blue solution as simulated wastewater. The result shows that TmVO₄ can be obtained by calcination at 700 °C. The average grain size is about 80 nm and the bandgap is 2.16 eV. Under visible-light conditions, the degradation rate of methylene blue can reach more than 90% when methylene blue solution of 10 mg/L was illuminated 60 min in the presence of nanoparticulate TmVO₄. The nanoparticulate TmVO₄ has excellent photocatalytic degradation activity for methylene blue. Nanoparticulate TmVO₄ prepared by sol-gel method has broad application prospects in photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants.

Keywords:

• TmVO₄
• sol-gel method
• visible-light photocatalysis
• nanomaterials

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge the financial supports from National Training Programs of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Undergraduates (No. 201710347013).