Synthesis and characterization of CoO/BiVO photocatalysts for the degradation of propyl paraben.

Cobalt-promoted bismuth vanadate photocatalysts of variable cobalt content (0-1.0 wt.%) were synthesized and characterized with various techniques including BET, XRD, DRS, XPS and TEM. BiVO exists in the monoclinic scheelite structure, while cobalt addition improves the absorbance in the visible region although it does not affect the band gap energy of BiVO. Cobalt exists in the form of well-dispersed CoO nanocrystallites, which are in intimate contact with the much larger BiVO nanoparticles. Photocatalytic activity was evaluated for the degradation of propyl paraben (PP) under simulated solar radiation. The activity of pristine BiVO is significantly improved adding small amounts of cobalt and is maximized for the catalyst containing 0.5 wt.% Co. PP degradation in ultrapure pure water increases with increasing photocatalyst loading (100 mg/L to 1.5 g/L), and decreasing PP concentration (1600-200 μg/L). Experiments in bottled water, as well as in pure water spiked with bicarbonate and chloride ions showed little effect of non-target inorganics on degradation. Conversely, degradation is severely impeded in secondary treated wastewater. The enhancement of the photocatalytic activity of the synthesized catalysts is attributed to efficient electron-hole separation, achieved at the p-n junction formed between the p-type CoO and the n-type BiVO semiconductors.