Simultaneous photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) and oxidation of phenol over monoclinic BiVO4 under visible light irradiation

BiVO4 powder with monoclinic structure was prepared and used as a visible-light catalyst simultaneously for the photooxidation of phenol and the photoreduction of Cr(VI). The photocatalytic efficiency was found to be rather low for either single phenol solution or single Cr(VI) solution. However, the photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) and photocatalytic oxidation of phenol proceed more rapidly for the coexistence system of phenol and Cr(VI) than for the single process, showing synergetic effect between the oxidation and reduction reactions. For the simultaneous photocatalytic reduction–oxidation process, the first-order kinetic constant of phenol degradation was 0.0314 min−1, being about six times higher than that for the photocatalytic process of single phenol. This result reveals the feasibility of using Cr(VI) as the electron scavenger of mBiVO4-mediated photocatalytic process of phenol degradation, and gives us an enlightenment to employ other semiconductor with a better visible light response but with a more positive band edge to efficiently degrade organic pollutants. This is the first report for simultaneous photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) and removal of phenol under visible light irradiation using photocatalyst mBiVO4.