• Clean Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.146-151
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• 2021

Pure and Sm ion doped BiVO₄ catalysts were synthesized using a conventional hydrothermal method and characterized by XRD, DRS, SEM, and PL. We also examined the activity of these materials on the photocatalytic decomposition of rhodamine B under visible light irradiation. The doping of Sm ion into BiVO₄ catalyst changed the ms-BiVO₄ crystal structure into the tz-BiVO₄ crystal structure in the low synthesis temperature. Light absorption analysis using DRS showed that all the catalysts displayed strong absorption in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum regardless of Sm ion doping. In addition, an amorphous morphology was shown in the pure BiVO₄ catalyst, but the morphology of the BiVO₄ catalyst doped with Sm ion was changed into an ellipse shape and also the particle size decreased. In the photocatalytic decomposition of rhodamine B, Sm ion doped BiVO₄ catalyst showed higher photocatalytic activity than the pure BiVO₄ catalyst. In addition, the Sm3-BVO catalyst doped with 3% Sm ion showed the highest photocatalytic activity, as well as the highest formation rate of OH radicals (•OH) and the highest PL peak. This result suggests that the formation rate of OH radicals produced in the interface between the photocatalyst and water is well correlated with the photocatalytic activity.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.681-685
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• 2015

In this study, pure $BiVO_4$ powder and metal-doped $M-BiVO_4$ (M = Mg, Cu) powder, well known as thermochromic materials, were prepared from a mixed aqueous solution of bismuth nitrate ($Bi(NO_3)_3$) and ammonium vanadate ($NH_4VO_3$) in autoclave by hydrothermal method. The crystal structure, microstructure, and thermochromic property of samples were analyzed using FE-SEM, FT-IR, XRD, DSC, UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy and colorimeter. When heating samples above phase transition temperature, the color of $M-BiVO_4$ (M = Mg, Cu) sample was thermally changed more clearly than that of using only pure $BiVO_4$ sample.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.424-432
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• 2019

Planar BiVO₄ and 3 wt% Mo-doped BiVO₄ (abbreviated as Mo:BiVO₄) film were prepared by the facile spin-coating method on fluorine doped SnO₂(FTO) substrate in the same precursor solution including the Mo precursor in Mo:BiVO₄ film. After annealing at a high temperature of 450℃ for 30 min to improve crystallinity, the films exhibited the monoclinic crystalline phase and nanoporous architecture. Both films showed no remarkably discrepancy in crystalline or morphological properties. To investigate the effect of surface passivation exploring the Al₂O₃ layer, the ultra-thin Al₂O₃ layer with a thickness of approximately 2 nm was deposited on BiVO₄ film using the atomic layer deposition (ALD) method. No distinct morphological modification was observed for all prepared BiVO₄ and Mo:BiVO₄ films. Only slightly reduced nanopores were observed. Although both samples showed some reduction of light absorption in the visible wavelength after coating of Al₂O₃ layer, the Al₂O₃ coated BiVO₄ (Al₂O₃/BiVO₄) film exhibited enhanced photoelectrochemical performance in 0.5 M Na₂SO₄ solution (pH 6.5), having higher photocurrent density (0.91 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE), briefly abbreviated as V_RHE) than BiVO₄ film (0.12 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V_RHE). Moreover, Al₂O₃ coating on the Mo:BiVO₄ film exhibited more enhanced photocurrent density (1.5 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V_RHE) than the Mo:BiVO₄ film (0.86 mA/㎠ at 1.23 V_RHE). To examine the reasons, capacitance measurement and Mott-Schottky analysis were conducted, revealing that the significant degradation of capacitance value was observed in both BiVO₄ film and Al₂O₃/Mo:BiVO₄ film, probably due to degraded capacitance by surface passivation. Furthermore, the flat-band potential (V_FB) was negatively shifted to about 200 mV while the electronic conductivities were enhanced by Al₂O₃ coating in both samples, contributing to the advancement of PEC performance by ultra-thin Al₂O₃ layer.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.240-249
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• 2016

$BiVO_4$ nanomaterial was synthesized from bismuth (III) nitrate pentahydrate [$Bi(NO_3)_3{\cdot}5H_2O$] and ammonium vanadate (V) [$NH_4VO_3$]. The $BiVO_4$-graphene nanocomposite was fabricated by calcining the $BiVO_4$ nanomaterial and graphene under an oxygen-free atmosphere at $700^{\circ}C$. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were employed to characterize structural and morphological properties of samples. The catalytic activity of the $BiVO_4$-graphene nanocomposite was studied for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol, 3-nitrophenol and 2-nitrophenol by sodium borohydride [$NaBH_4$]. The photocatalytic activity of the $BiVO_4$-graphene nanocomposite was demonstrated by the degradation of organic dyes like BG, MB, MO and RhB under irradiation at 365 nm. The catalytic and photocatalytic activity were studied by UV-vis spectrophotometry.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.269-276
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• 2005

Zn, Bi 와 V 금속이온 전구체를 사용하여 모노클리닉 결정구조를 갖는 신규 ZnBiVO4 광촉매를 손쉽게 합성 할 수 있는 방법을 개발하였다. 합성된 $ZnBiVO_4$ 광촉매는 XRD 과 FESEM등을 이용하여 미세구조를 분석하였으며, 분석결과 본 삼성분계 금속산화물 반도체 광촉매는 모노클리닉 결정구조를 갖는 것을 알 수 있었다. 저온 수용액방법에 의해 손쉽게 나노 구조를 갖는 $ZnBiVO_4$가 제조되었으며, 그 광촉매의 최소 입자크기는 20-30 nm 이다. $ZnBiVO_4$ 광촉매는 UV-visible DRS (diffuse reflectance spectroscopy)로 그 띠간격(band gap)을 측정하였으며, FT-IR을 사용하여 구조 및 물질 상의 순도를 확인하였다. 그리고 $H_2S$를 광분해하여 수소를 발생하는($122ml/hr{\cdot}g$) 우수한 광촉매 활성을 보여 주었다.

• Rapid Communication in Photoscience
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.82-85
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• 2015

Photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) is one of the attractive ways to produce clean and renewable energy. However, solar to hydrogen production via PEC system generally requires high external bias, because of material's innate electronic band potential relative to hydrogen reduction potential and/or charge separation issue. For spontaneous photo-water splitting, here, we design dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) and their monolithic tandem cell incorporated with a $BiVO_4$ photoanode. $BiVO_4$ has high conduction band edge potential and suitable band gap (2.4eV) to absorb visible light. To achieve efficient $BiVO_4$ photoanode system, electron and hole mobility should be improved, and we demonstrate a tandem cell in which $BiVO_4/WO_3$ film is connected to cobalt complex based DSSC.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.566-571
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• 2019

One-pot hydrothermal route was adopted to synthesize Al:BiVO₄, at 4 h and 8 h reaction durations, by adding 1% aluminiumoxide powder (w/v) to the precursors. The products were investigated using several characterization techniques that conform a significant morphological change and a decrease in bandgap energy of the materials upon Al modification of scheelite monoclinic bismuth vanadate matrix at both hydrothermal durations. Antibacterial experiments were performed against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in visible light condition to harness the photoxidation property of Al-doped BiVO₄ and compare to that of unaltered BiVO₄. Minimum inhibitory concentration of the synthesized materials was identified. The results indicate that Al-doping on BiVO₄ has a significant effect on its photocatalytic antibacterial performance. Al:BiVO₄ synthesized at 8 h hydrothermal treatment parades excellent sunlight-driven photocatalysis compared to the one synthesized at 4 h.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.132-138
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• 2023

Doped and undoped-BiVO₄ samples with different elements (Li, Mg) and amounts were synthesized with a hydrothermal method. The synthesized samples were characterized using various techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-Vis diffusion reflectance spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS), and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Photocatalytic activity of the samples was evaluated by measuring the degradation of methyl blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. The results indicated that the incorporation of Mg and Li into BiVO₄ caused lattice distortion, the presence of surface hydroxyl groups, a narrower band gap, and a reduced recombination ratio of photo-induced electron-hole pairs. Notably, the photocatalytic activity of Mg5%-Li5% co-doped BiVO₄ sample exhibited a significant improvement compared to that of undoped BiVO₄ sample.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.547-551
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• 1999

The phase change upon Bi substitutions in $Ca_{1.5-1.5x}Bi_xVO_4$ has been systematically studied. The x value corresponding to the maximum Bi substitutions reades to 0.14 and in this range($x{\leq}0.14$), the single phasic $Ca_3(VO_4)_2$ can be identified. However, a new phase of $BiV_{1.025}O_{4+x}$ is apparently formed along with the $Ca_3(VO_4)_2$ phase, when the x value exceeds beyond 0.18 ($x{\geq}0.18$). As a result of Bi substitution in the range of x$\leq$0.14, the interplanar space($d_300$) becomes larger as the Bi content increases. Since the composition of single phasic $Ca_{1.29}Bi_{0.14}VO_4$ (x=O.14) is, however, incongruent melting one, no definite melting point could be observed. But we found that its solidus temperature was 1182$^{\circ}C$ by DTA analysis.

• Rapid Communication in Photoscience
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.35-37
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• 2014

PEC (photoelectrochemical) water splitting for $O_2/H_2$ production is one of the promising but difficult way to utilize solar energy. Among photocatalytic materials for PEC water oxidation, $BiVO_4$ (Eg = 2.4 eV) has been recently intensively studied since it has various advantageous properties. But its maximum efficiency has not been realized owing to kinetic factors - slow water oxidation at surface & insufficient stability. These problems can be simultaneously solved by application of oxygen evolution catalyst (OEC) such as $CoO_x$, Co-Pi, $IrO_x$ etc. Herein we report the first successful application of $NiFeO_x$ OEC on $BiVO_4$, showing good performance compared to other effective OEC applied on $BiVO_4$ under basic conditions. The enhanced activity of OEC loaded $BiVO_4$ has been supported by the surface charge separation efficiency and electrochemical impedance studies.