Abstract
A new compound of BiLa1.4Ca0.6O4.2 is synthesized through solid state reaction, where the Ca substitutes, in part, the La site in a stable BiLa2O4.5 phase. The structure of the BiLa1.4Ca0.6O4.2 crystallizes in space group R3mH with a hexagonal lattice constants of a = 3.893(1) Å, c = 9.891(1) Å. Its optical absorption edge is about 2.05 eV, which just spans the visible light region. The photocatalytic activity of the BiLa1.4Ca0.6O4.2 powder to degradation of RhB under visible light irradiation is measured and improved more than 7 times by annealing in nitrogen ambient, indicating that annealing in nitrogen can effectively improve the photocatalytic activity by producing oxygen vacancy. Although the absolute photocatalytic activity obtained is low, there is great potential for enhancing the activity such as nanoscaling, doping, and coupling with other compounds.
Highlights
A new compound of BiLa1.4Ca0.6O4.2 is synthesized through solid state reaction, where the Ca substitutes, in part, the La site in a stable BiLa2O4.5 phase
In order to analyze the morphology and crystallite size, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was adopted for studying the BiLa1.4Ca0.6O4.2 without and with annealing in a nitrogen ambient
The density of states (DOS) of the valence band of samples was measured by valence band X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) (Fig. 5(C))
Summary
A new compound of BiLa1.4Ca0.6O4.2 is synthesized through solid state reaction, where the Ca substitutes, in part, the La site in a stable BiLa2O4.5 phase. With the aggravation of environmental pollution from hazardous organic compounds, more attention has been attracted to develop new photocatalytic materials for degradation of organic pollutant[1,2,3] Metal oxides such as TiO2, ZnO, Bi2O3, and BiOCl4–8 are widely studied due to their potential in photocatatic applications. Exploring new compounds with band gaps in visible light wavelength range is desirable Among these compounds, bismuth-based oxides are known to exhibit rich structural diversity and high efficiency in degradation of organic pollutants, such as BiFeO39, Bi2WO610,11,12, BiPO413,14, BiVO415, BiOI16–19, and BiPbO2Cl20. Many other methods like high temperature calcination[29], cold plasma treatment[30], annealing in atmosphere[31], and particle bombardment[32] had been reported for creating defects in a catalyst Compared with these methods, chemical doping is a simple and controllable way to adjust defects state and its concentration. SEM images of BiLa1.4Ca0.6O4.2 (A) and annealed in nitrogen (B)
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