Fishbone like BiVO4 product has been successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal method without using
any surfactant or template. The pH value was found to play an important role in the formation of this
morphology. The band gap of the as-prepared fishbone like BiVO4 sample was estimated to be about
2.36 eV from the onset of UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectrum (UV–vis DRS) of the photocatalyst. The asprepared
fishbone like BiVO4 sample exhibited excellent visible-light-driven photocatalytic efficiency.
Over this catalyst, the 100% degradation of rhodamine B (Rh B) (0.005 mmol L1
) was obtained after
visible light irradiation (l > 420 nm) for 180 min. This is much higher than that of bulk BiVO4 sample
prepared by solid-state reaction. The reason for the differences in the photocatalytic activities of
fishbone like BiVO4 sample and bulk BiVO4 sample was further investigated.