Development of glass and glass-ceramic substrates based on bismuth and vanadium phosphates for photocatalytic applications

• Grant number: 23/08783-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2023
• End date: November 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Inorganic Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Danilo Manzani
• Grantee: Christiane Aparecida Cunha
• Host Institution: Instituto de Química de São Carlos (IQSC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/08111-2 - Development of rare earth based light converters: luminescent markers, optical sensors, and amplifiers, AP.TEM

Abstract

The project aims at the development of self-supported glass and glass-ceramic substrates with crystalline particles based on vanadium and bismuth for applications in photocatalysis of emerging contaminants. The proposal combines the high thermal, mechanical, and chemical stability of bismuth and vanadium-containing phosphate glasses with the low cost and promising photocatalytic properties of bismuth phosphate and vanadate phases for the photodegradation of emerging contaminants. Based on the preparation of a glass-ceramic system based on bismuth phosphate and vanadate through a heat-treatment methodology above the glass transition temperature, compositions based on P2O5, Bi2O3 and V2O5 will be explored. Therefore, the project proposes the synthesis of glasses and their glass-ceramics, the characterization of BiPO4 and BiVO4 heterostructures, which were chosen as models of active phases under visible light irradiation with a bandgap between 2.2 and 2.5 eV, and their high photocatalytic potentiality, considering their high concentration of hyperpolarized Bi3+ and their ability to generate electron-hole pairs through photocatalysis when in theses phases. The glass and glass-ceramics will be characterized using different techniques such as electron microscopy, optical and structural spectroscopies, thermal properties, and evaluated in photocatalysis assays for the degradation of model organic compounds, aiming to correlate the structural, optical, and electronic properties of the obtained materials with their photocatalytic activities under visible light excitation in the degradation of emerging pollutant.