Abstract: BiVO₄ was synthesized via hydrothermal method，with Bi（NO₃）₃ and NH₄VO₃ as raw materials and with NaOH to adjust pH of the system.Crystal structure and optical absorption properties of the as-prepared material were characterized by XRD and UV-Vis.Taking rhodamine B as degradation objective，halogen lamp（λ＞400 nm）as light source，the influences of hydrothermal temperature and time on the visible photocatalytic activity of BiVO₄ were investigated.Results showed that the best preparation conditions were 200 ℃ and 8 h.Influences of pH of rhodamine B solution and dosage of catalyst on degradation rate of rhodamine B were also investigated，and results showed that when pH was 3 and catalyst′s dosage was 0.4 g（per 60 mL solution），the photocatalytic effect was the best， and the photocatalytic degradation rate could reach 97% after reaction for 2 h.

Key words: bismuth vanadate, rhodamine B, hydrothermal method, visible photocatalytic degradation