Data from: The fabrication of the heterojunction catalyst BiVO4/P25 and its visible-light photocatalytic activities

A heterojunction catalyst BiVO4/P25 was successfully fabricated using a one-step hydrothermal method. The BiVO4/P25 samples exhibited better photocatalytic activities and absorption performances when compared with the pure BiVO4. The degradation rate of the methyl blue (MB) solution (5 mg/L) reached up to 85% in sixty minutes under visible-light illumination (λ > 420 nm). The nanocomposites were characterized using XPS, Raman spectroscopy, FT-IR, UV–visual diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, SEM and HR-TEM. A high-powered scanning electron microscope showed a polyhedron shape and a flower-like shape. The BiVO4/P25 nanocomposite was found to have a rougher surface, as well as a larger surface area, when compared with the pure BiVO4. This resulted in an improved photocatalytic activity, along with super absorption to a large extent.