The effect of hydrothermal temperature on the synthesis of monoclinic bismuth vanadate powders

Pure phase monoclinic bismuth vanadate powders of a nanosized diameter were synthesized by the hydrothermal method and characterized using XRD, TEM, DRS, Raman and FTIR techniques. The results revealed that the hydrothermal conditions (16 h at 140-240 °C) are favourable for the formation of monoclinic bismuth vanadate powders. They also indicated that if samples are prepared by the route described in this paper, an increase in the grain size and a gradual decrease of the band gap occur as the hydrothermal temperature increases.