Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecoenv Preparation of visible light-responsive photocatalytic paper containing BiVO 4 @diatomite/MCC/PVBCFs for degradation of organic pollutants Chengliang Hua a , Xiangyao Liu c , Shixue Ren a , Caiwei Zhang a , Wenbo Liu a,b,* a Material Science and Engineering College, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150040, China b Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biomass Energy and Material, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210046, China c Chemistry and Chemical Engineering School, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing, Heilongjiang, 163318, China ARTICLE INFO Keywords: BiVO 4 @diatomite/MCC/PVBCFs Methylene blue Formaldehyde Visible light-responsive photocatalytic paper Photocatalytic property ABSTRACT Combining adsorption and photocatalysis is an effective strategy for degrading organic pollutants. Here, BiVO 4 @ diatomite composite photocatalyst (BiVO 4 @diatomite CP) was prepared by hydrothermal synthesis from Bi (NO 3 ) 3 ·5H 2 O glycerin solution, NH 4 VO 3 solution and diatomite. BiVO 4 @diatomite/microcrystalline cellulose/ PVB composite fibers (BiVO 4 @diatomite/MCC/PVBCFs) were prepared from BiVO 4 @diatomite CPs, micro- crystalline cellulose (MCC) and PVB ethanol solution using the electrospinning method. BiVO 4 @diatomite/ MCC/PVBCFs were then mixed with pulp fibers to prepare the visible light-responsive photocatalytic paper. BiVO 4 @diatomite CP with a BiVO 4 /diatomite ratio of 6:4 had good interface states and displayed good pho- tocatalytic activity with 64.32% degradation of methylene blue (MB) after 4 h. A PVB ethanol solution (6%) was formulated with BiVO 4 @diatomite CP and MCC to provide an ethanol spinning solution (12% solid) to prepare BiVO 4 @diatomite/MCC/PVBCFs (3:3:4). The resulting fibers had smooth surfaces, compact structures and ex- hibited good photocatalytic activity (66.80% and 56.80% degradation of MB and formaldehyde (HCHO), re- spectively, after 4 h). Photocatalytic paper containing 18% BiVO 4 @diatomite/MCC/PVBCFs had good photo- catalytic activity with 50.20% degradation of HCHO after 4 h. This paper also had good physical properties and has the potential to be used for the photocatalytic degradation of indoor air pollutants, such as HCHO. 1. Introduction Since people now typically spend more than 80% of their daily time indoors, the quality of indoor air has a large effect on the human health (Tang et al., 2009). The human carcinogen (HCHO) is a typical example of a volatile organic compounds (VOC) founds indoors, and the detec- tion and removal of HCHO are thus attracting much interest (Wu et al., 2015; Salthammer et al., 2010). Photocatalytic oxidation, which is one of the more promising technologies for the degradation of hazardous organic chemicals to water, carbon dioxide, and simple mineral acids, has the advantages of being simple to carry out, requiring low energy consumption and not generating secondary pollution (Chen et al., 2010; Yin et al., 2010; Karagoz et al., 2019; Meenakshi and Sivasamy, 2016). Semiconductors, which are the most frequently used photocatalysts, have a discontinuous band structure, which is composed of a low en- ergy valence band (VB), a high energy conduction band (CB) and a forbidden band (FB). The forbidden bandwidth (Eg) determines the degree of difficulty of electron transition from the VB to the CB, the smaller the value of Eg is, the easier it is for electron transition to the CB (Chen et al., 2010; Shen et al., 2017; Ren et al., 2004). Bismuth vanadate (BiVO 4 ), a non-toxic, ecofriendly, visible light- responsive photocatalytic semiconductor, is currently attarcting widerspread interest because of its narrow band gap (2.4 eV) and sui- table band position (Wang et al., 2017). Photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants using BiVO 4 has been described previously (Deebasree et al., 2018; Dong et al., 2016). Sayama et al. (2006) used the metal-organic decomposition method to synthesize a porous BiVO 4 film that was used as an electrode for the photochemical splitting of water. Chala et al. (2014) synthesized Fe-loaded BiVO 4 using hydro- thermal method and found that its ability to degrade MB under visible light irradiation (82% after 30 min) was superior to that of BiVO 4 itself. Zhang and Zhang, (2010) prepared a Eu/BiVO 4 composite photo- catalyst by the hydrothermal method, and using decolorization of me- thyl orange as the test, showed that Eu/BiVO 4 was a highly efficient photocatalyst (93.6% of methyl orange degraded after 180 min under visible light irradiation). Li et al. (2013) used a simple two step hy- drothermal method to synthesize F-doped BiVO 4 spheres and showed that they had higher photocatalytic activity than undoped BiVO 4 (99% https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.110897 Received 11 February 2020; Received in revised form 11 June 2020; Accepted 12 June 2020 * Corresponding author. Material Science and Engineering College, Northeast Forestry University, NO.26, Road Hexing, Xiangfang District, Harbin, 155040, China. E-mail address: hljlwbo@nefu.edu.cn (W. Liu). Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 202 (2020) 110897 0147-6513/ © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. T