Band offsets of novel CoTiO3/Ag3VO4 heterojunction measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Abstract The energy band diagram and band offsets of the novel CoTiO3/Ag3VO4 heterojunction photocatalyst are investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy for the first time. Excluding the strain effect, the valence-band and conduction-band offsets are determined to be 0.2 ± 0.3 eV and −0.6 ± 0.3 eV, respectively. The CoTiO3/Ag3VO4 composite forms a type-II heterojunction, for which the photogenerated charge carriers could be effectively separated. The results suggest that determination of the energy band structure is crucial for understanding the photogenerated charge transfer mechanism at the interfaces, hence the corresponding photocatalytic activity and would also be beneficial to the design of new and efficient heterostructure-based photocatalysts.