Layered oxide Bi4O11 and mixed oxides of bismuth, vanadium and a third metal (ME = Cu, Zn, Mn) were synthesized and characterized using XRD, Raman and SEM. The energy band gap (E-g) of samples determined using UV-VIS reflectance spectra equals to 2.46, 2.34, 2.27 and 2.18 eV for Bi4V2O11, BICUVOX (Bi2V1 - xCuxO5.5 - (3x/2)), BIZNVOX (Bi2V1 - xZnxO5.5 - (3x/2)) and BIMNVOX (Bi2V1 - xMnxO5.5 - (x/2)) (x = 0.1), respectively. Open circuit voltage measurements confirmed the n-type semiconductor's activity for all the tested oxides. This work shows that all studied materials are active under UV and visible light illumination. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.