Bismuth vanadate-reduced graphene oxide-polyvinylidene fluoride electrospun composite membrane for piezo-photocatalysis

We have used the electrospinning method to fabricate a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane, bismuth vanadate-polyvinylidene fluoride (BiVO4-PVDF, referred to as BV-PVDF) and bismuth vanadate-reduced graphene oxide-polyvinylidene fluoride (BV-rGO-PVDF) composite membranes. Compared to costly noble metals such as platinum (Pt), rGO is a more economical and ecologically friendly alternative for enhancing photocatalytic activity. After characterization, the fiber membranes were used as a catalyst material to investigate the relationship between the structure and catalytic activity with a 10 ml solution of 5 mg/L methylene blue (MB) dye. Furthermore, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), benzoquinone (BQ) and isopropanol (IPA) scavengers were utilized to investigate the degradation intermediates. It has been discovered that the electrospun BV-rGO-PVDF composite has piezocatalytic and photocatalytic capabilities that are superior to those of PVDF and BV-PVDF. The degradation process is carried out with MB as a model dye, and we discovered that the BV-rGO-PVDF composite leads to a maximum dye degradation of 82% in under 180 min of process time, with a degradation rate of 0.0088 min−1. Consequently, we concluded that the hybrid 1D structure of the piezocatalytic and photocatalytic material is appropriate for the breakdown of organic contaminants.