Structural, magnetic and photocatalytic characterization of Bi$_{1−x}$La$_x$FeO$_3$ nanoparticles synthesized by thermal decomposition method

[摘要] Single-phase La-substituted bismuth ferrite (Bi$_{1−x}$La$_x$FeO$_3$) nanoparticles have been synthesized by thermal decomposition of a glyoxylate precursor. The crystal structure transition of BiFeO3 from the rhombohedral(R3c) to the cubic structure by La addition was confirmed by X-ray diffraction and infrared spectrometry methods. Furthermore, the Bi$_{1−x}$La$_x$FeO$_3$ nanoparticles showed a weak ferrimagnetism behaviour, while the magnetization increased from 0.18 to 0.48 emu g$^{âˆ�?1}$ with La substitution. The Bi$_{1−x}$La$_x$FeO$_3$ nanoparticles exhibitedstrong absorption in the visible region with the optical band gap calculated from Tauc’s plot in the range of 2.19â€�??2.15 eV. Furthermore, the effects of La substitution on the photodegradation of the methylene blue (MB) undervisible light were also studied. The photodegradation of MB dye was enhanced from 64 to $sim$99% with increasing La substitution from $x = 0$ to 0.1 and then decreased to 8% for $x = 0.15$.

[学科分类] 材料工程

[关键词] BiFeO$_3$;lanthanum;magnetic property;photocatalytic activity.