Synthesis of magnetically removable photocatalyst based on bismuth doped YFeO3

• Published in: Materials science & engineering. B, Solid-state materials for advanced technology Vol. 261; p. 114773
• Main Authors: Rosales-González, O., Sánchez-De Jesús, F., Camacho-González, M.A., Cortés-Escobedo, C.A., Bolarín-Miró, A.M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 01.11.2020; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Antiferromagnetism; Ball milling; Bi doped YFeO3; Bismuth; Catalytic activity; Ferromagnetism; Light irradiation; Magnetic measurement; Methylene blue; Methylene Blue degradation; Phase transitions; Photocatalysis; Photocatalyst; Photocatalysts; Photodegradation; Synthesis; Visible-light photocatalyst; Water remediation; Yttrium; Bi doped YFeO3; Visible-light photocatalyst; Water remediation; Methylene Blue degradation; Photocatalyst
• ISSN: 0921-5107; 1873-4944
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mseb.2020.114773

[Display omitted] •Y1-xBixFeO3 were obtained by high-energy ball milling assisted by annealing.•Bi3+ substitution induces a ferromagnetic behavior in doped YFeO3.•UV–Vis spectroscopy confirms narrow band gaps in visible light region.•Heterogeneous photo-Fenton like system was employed for organic dye degradation.•Y1-xBixFeO3 are novel magnetically recoverable visible-light photocatalysts. We report the photocatalytic activity of Y1-xBixFeO3 (0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.5) powders under visible light irradiation, synthesized by assisted high-energy ball milling. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Rietveld refinement, confirm the synthesis of pure bismuth doped yttrium orthoferrite for doped levels up to 30% mol. At higher doping levels, the orthoferrite phase transforms partially to garnet structure. The substitution of yttrium by bismuth changes the magnetic order, from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic, evaluated by means of vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), this behavior can be useful for its recovery. Band gap values around ~2 eV, obtained from UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), show that the synthesized compounds absorb visible light. The synthesized materials show high photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue under visible light irradiation, regardless of bismuth content. Photo-Fenton experiments demonstrated an improvement in the photodegradation. The bismuth doped YFeO3 appears as a novel magnetically recoverable photocatalyst for water remediation.