A ternary Er3+-BiVO4/TiO2 complex heterostructure with excellent photocatalytic performance

Ternary erbium doped BiVO4/TiO2 complexes are synthesized by means of a simple impregnation method with good photoactivities under sun-like excitation for the degradation of phenol. From the structural and morphological characterization it has been stated that the presence of Er3+ induces a slight stabilization of the tetragonal phase probably due to its incorporation in the BiVO4 lattice. Therefore a ternary heterostructured material has been obtained. The best photocatalytic performance was attained for the samples with 1 wt% of Er3+-doped BiVO4 content with respect to TiO2. The occurrence of a complex structural mixture with the adequate band position leads to effective charge pair separation which induces higher photocatalytic activities.