A layered perovskite – type designated as Aurivillius family has been synthesized in the composition sol- gel route followed with the microwave- assisted calcination of resulting xerogels. The present study has been devoted to investigate the effect of Cr(III) doping on phase stability, optical properties and photocatalytic efficiency of Aurivillius type Bi4V2O11. In this investigation, many analytical methods, such as X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), differential thermal analysis (DTA), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform- infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), nitrogen adsorption equipment and UV-VIS spectrophotometry, have been employed. Methylene blue (MB) has been used here as a dye model in aqueous medium to investigate the photocatalytic efficiency of as-prepared BICRVOX.x series under visible- light irradiation. It has been found that the photocatalytic degradation of MB proceeds more rapidly in the compositional range of γ'-phase stabilization, particularly γ'- BICRVOX.15 exhibiting the highest value of apparent velocity constant (kapp = 13.22 × 10-3 min-1), irrespective of the lowest value of its bandgap energy (Eg = 1.64 eV). This unexpected variation may be attributed to the increased crystallinity of γ'- BICRVOX phases (i.e. x = 0.13 and x = 0.15) which interfered with UV-VIS spectrophotometric measurements.

Keywords : Photocatalysts , BICRVOX , Methylene Blue