Facile fabrication of a novel BiPO(4) phase junction with enhanced photocatalytic performance towards aniline blue degradation

A novel BiPO(4) photocatalyst has been fabricated via a facile precipitation route using dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as a solvent. The physical and chemical properties of the BiPO(4) photocatalyst material were analyzed using XRD, Rietveld refinements XRD, FE-SEM, TEM, HR-TEM, EDS, XPS, FT-IR, Raman spectra, UV-Vis (DRS), and PL. The results confirm that hexagonal phase BiPO(4) (HBIP) nanorods were successfully synthesized. FE-SEM images reveal that the addition of surfactant “CTAB” during preparation can control the surface morphology of BiPO(4). The Rietveld refinement technique revealed the formation of a monazite monoclinic (nMBIP) and monoclinic (mMBIP) phase junction resulting from the calcination of HBIP at 500 °C. The photocatalytic behavior of the as-synthesized hexagonal and monoclinic BiPO(4) nanostructures towards aniline blue (AB) degradation under UV light was systematically investigated. Among all catalysts, the phase junction (nMBIP–mMBIP) structure demonstrated the highest photocatalytic activity. The degradation rate of AB over the (nMBIP–mMBIP) phase junction structure was 3.4 times higher than that by HBIP. These results suggested that the surface-phase junction provides a synergistic effect for the electron–hole transfer process.