Preparation of Co-BiVO_4 Photocatalyst and Its Application in the Photocatalytic Oxidative Thiophene

The Co-BiVO4 photocatalyst was prepared by hydrothermal method and characterized by X-ray diffraction,scanning electron microscope,UV-Vis absorption spectroscope,and low-temperature N2 adsorption.The characterized results indicate that highly crystalline monoclinic scheelite structure of Co-BiVO4 is obtained at pH=7 and the Co dopant does not change the crystal phase of BiVO4.The Co-BiVO4 has a significant red-shift in the absorption band in the visible region,and its absorption intensity increases greatly for the doped catalyst compared with pure BiVO4.Low-temperature N2 adsorption result reveals that the pore size of the Cu-BiVO4(pH=7) mostly distributes at 2.67 nm.The desulfurization ability of Co-BiVO4 was researched by photocatalytic oxidation of thiophene in visible light.The results show that the Co-BiVO4 photocatalysts exhibit higher photocatalytic activities for degradation of thiophene under visible light irradiation.When pH value is 7.0 and the hydrothermal synthesize time is 8 h,the photocatalytic activities reach the maximum.Under the conditions of 150 mL/min air flow,1.0 mg/L catalyst amount,and visible light irradiation for 3 h in 400 W xenon lamp light,the desulfurization rate by Co-BiVO4at 600 mg/L initial concentration increases to 86%.