10% La-doped BiFeO3 nanoceramics: A promising magnetic catalyst to degrade pharmaceutical antibiotics

Abstract

In this investigation, BiFeO3 (BFO) and 10% La-doped BiFeO3 (BLFO) nanoceramics were synthesized by a sol–gel method for the photocatalytic degradation of colorless antibiotics ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin under the irradiation of 500 W Hg-Xe lamp. A good agreement between the structural transitions from rhombohedral to orthorhombic phase was observed by the X-ray diffraction and the vibrational modes in the Raman spectra, due to the substitution of Bi by La. Moreover, La doping resulted in a decrease in the particle size from ∼117 to 32 nm, reduction of oxygen vacancies, significant enhancement of magnetization, dramatic improvement of optical absorption, and reduction of band gap from 2.19 to 2.14 eV. The significantly enhanced magnetization might be associated with the suppression of the spiral spin cycloid of BFO due to the substitution of La and reduced size of the BLFO nanoceramics to ∼32 nm which was also confirmed by transmission electron microscopy imaging. The strong optical absorption of BLFO nanoceramics boosted their photo-generated charge carriers separation, produced more reactive species, and demonstrated ∼70% photocatalytic efficiency to degrade pharmaceutical pollutants from aqueous solution. The high saturation magnetization and strong optical absorption mostly in the visible region suggest the potentiality of BLFO nanoceramics as a promising photocatalyst with a superior recyclability to be magnetically extracted from the reaction medium.