Preparation of LaVO4 by Microwave Process and its Photocatalytic Activity

Using La (NO3)3·6H2O, NH4VO3, citric acid as the main raw materials, nanocrystalline LaVO4 sample was prepared by microwave method. The structure and morphology of sample were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of LaVO4 was studied for methyl orange (MO) used as simulated sewage. The XRD and SEM showed that the particle size of LaVO4 was about 80-100 nm. The DRS showed that LaVO4 had optical absorption onset of 356 nm, indicating the optical band gap of 3.48 eV. The FT-IR showed that LaVO4 had vibration peaks of Fe-O and V-O bond. Under UV-light, the photocatalytic experiment indicated that the prepared LaVO4 nanocrystalline had highly photocatalytic activity for degradation of methyl orange.