A study on the precursor of vanadium pentoxide by the hydrothermal method

Different morphologies including bulk, layer by layer structure and nanosheets-like spheres of vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) precursor have been synthesized via a simple and direct hydrothermal method. Field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction and UV–vis diffuse reflectance were used to characterize the fabricated materials. The results showed that the reaction time had a great influence on the morphology evolution processes of the as-synthesized precursors. The photocatalysis measurements showed that the nanosheet-like spheres exhibited the highest activity for degrading rhodamine B under UV light. The possible morphology transformation mechanism and the schematic representation of the precursor are also discussed.