Influence of precursor aging time period on physical and photocatalytic properties of nebulizer spray coated BiVO4 thin films

BiVO4 thin films were deposited on glass substrates using nebulizer spray deposition route for different precursor solution aging period. The effect of the solution aging on structural, optical and chemical composition was investigated through different analytical techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Raman, UV-Visible spectrometer, photoluminescence (PL) and Energy Dispersive X - ray analysis (EDX). It was observed that aging time of precursor solution strongly affects the growth of preferred orientation and morphology of as-deposited BiVO4 thin films. The photocatalytic performance of the deposited BiVO4 films was studied under visible light dye degradation experiments with rhodamine B (RhB) as test effluent. The photocatalytic experiments revealed that BiVO4 thin films deposited from aged solution exhibited better activity. The recycle tests were also conducted to analyze the chemical stability and reusability of the optimum BiVO4 film in dye solution.