Abstract

• Clay minerals supported semiconductor based photocatalysts have drawn wide attention for its economical, feasible and excellent reaction activity in photocatalytic process and for the detoxification of environmental pollutants. In this study, visible-light responsive montmorillonite (MMT) supported BiVO4 heterostructure photocatalyst having superb photocatalytic activity was synthesized via typical hydrothermal method. The optimum nanocomposite with 40 wt% BiVO4/MMT exhibited around 4.17 times higher photodecomposition efficiency for Methyleneblue (MB) over the as-synthesized bare BiVO4, respectively. The enhancement of photocatalytic activity could be credited to sound absorption of visible light spectrum due to the narrow bandgap of BiVO4, formation of additional active sites and enlarged specific surface area facilitated by MMT support, and strong interface interaction between BiVO4 and MMT which is confirmed by XPS analysis. The catalyst efficiently performed well over a wide pH scale range 3-10 in the photodecomposition process. Moreover, the possible photocatalytic mechanism of BiVO4/MMT nanocomposite towards the degradation progress was discussed and inferred that both ●O2- and ●OH were dominant reactive species. The study might provide insight in designing visible-light driven clay minerals supported semiconductor based photocatalyst system for the wastewater treatment and environmental remediation.