Removal of rhodamine B from aqueous solution by BiPO4 hierarchical architecture

Hexahedron-like BiPO₄ microcrystals were sucessfully synthesized via a template-free hydrothermal method. The resulting samples were characterized by Xray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and UV-vis spectroscopy. The BiPO₄ samples were of pure monoclinic phase, and the initial amount of PO_3–4 during synthesis did not show obvious effect on the phase properties of the materials. The hexahedron-like BiPO₄ microcrystal had explicitly cut edges, and its thickness was about 1 μm. The photocatalytic performance of the BiPO₄ catalysts was evaluated by photodegradation of RhB under UV light irradiation with commerial Degussa P25 TiO₂ as reference. Compared with P25, the BiPO₄ catalysts displayed higher photocatalytic activity, with 98.7% of RhB degraded during 60-min experiment. Cost evaluation analysis was adopted to describe the energy consumption of the degradation process, and the results suggested the potential application of this material in the field of dye-contaminated wastewater treatment or environmental matrices remediation.