Abstract: Metal vanadates were mainly used as photoluminescence materials, laser materials, cathode materials for rechargeable lithium batteries, recently. As a new photocatalystthey, they have attracted much attention. In this paper, the synthesis and modification of the vanadate photocatalysts including BiVO_4,InVO_4,Ag_3VO_4 and FeVO_4 were briefly reviewed. Meanwhile, the photocatalytic activity of photocatalyst under different conditions were analyzed and discussed. In addition, the problems which need to be solved were proposed.

Key words: vanadate%photocatalyst%synthesis%modification%photocatalytic activity