Bismuth vanadate-based semiconductor photocatalysts a short critical review on the efficiency and the mechanism of photodegradation of organic pollutants

International audienceThe number of publications on photocatalytic bismuth vanadate-based materials is constantly increasing. Indeed, bismuth vanadate is gaining stronger interest in the photochemical community since it is a solar-driven photocatalyst. However, the efficiency of BiVO-based photocatalyst under sunlight is questionable in most of the studies investigating the photodegradation of organic pollutants, only few works identify the by-products and evaluate the real efficiency of BiVO-based materials. This short review aims to (i) present briefly the principles of photocatalysis and define the photocatalytic efficiency and (ii) discuss the formation of reactive species involved in the photocatalytic degradation process of pollutants and thus the corresponding photodegradation mechanism could be determined. All these points are developed in a comprehensive discussion by focusing especially on pure, doped, and composite BiVO. Therefore, this review exhibits a critical overview on different BiVO-based photocatalytic systems with their real efficiency. This is a necessary knowledge for potential implementation of BiVO materials in environmental applications at larger scale than laboratory conditions

Novel Applications and Future Perspectives of Nanocomposites

As the present chapter of the book is located in the concluding section, it was important to highlight the main applications of composite materials focusing especially on applications, which exploit other peculiarities of the materials besides photocatalysis. This will be done, by introducing those materials and their composites that are most studied, or were found to exhibit interesting behavior. In many of the presented cases, the main structural, morphological, or optical property of the given composite will be discussed to understand its functioning mechanism, and its role in the current scientific approaches. Additionally, this chapter aims to give a perspective regarding the composite-based nanoscience, and points out important research directions for the further developments of composite materials