Abstract
The continuously growing need for clean water has increased research looking for new and efficient ways to treat wastewater. Due to its magnetic properties, Bismuth ferrite, a photo-catalyst, has introduced a novel field of photo-catalysis where the photo-catalytic material could easily be separated from the aqueous solution after wastewater treatment. Herein, a new type of photo-catalysts, composed of Gadolinium (Gd) and Tin (Sn), co-doped Bismuth Ferrite deposited over graphene nanoplatelet surface have been synthesized using a two-step method. In first step, Gd (fixed concentration 10%) and Sn (5%, 15%, 20% and 25%) were doped inside bismuth ferrite (BFO) host using sol-gel method (namely the BGFSO nanoparticles, abbreviated for Gd and Sn doped BFO). In the second step, BGFSO nanoparticles were introduced onto GNPs using co-precipitation method (namely the BGFSO/GNP nanohybrids). The x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed the chemical bonding between co-doped BFO and GNP sheets via oxy and hydroxyl groups. The photocatalytic activities of the nanohybrids under both, visible light and dark conditions have been increased, and the maximum degradation activity (74%) of organic dye Congo-red (CR) is obtained for 25% Sn-doped BGFSO/GNP nanohybrid. The photocatalytic activity may be attributed to enhanced adsorption capability, electron storage properties of graphene and the presence of oxygen-rich species inside nanohybrids. Based on the current overgrowing population and need for clean water, these materials present versatile potential as catalysts for wastewater treatment.
Highlights
Photocatalysis deals with the occurrence of oxidation and reduction reactions on the surface of a solid material due to photogenerated charge carriers [1]
The particle size was calculated using Scherrer’s formula (D = Kλ/β cos θ) of x-ray diffraction analysis [17,23] and for graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) the particle size is 35 nm which shows a stack of 24 graphene sheets approximately
The same plane (002) will be observed inside the synthesized nanohybrids, which will correspond to GNPs loading inside the ferrite nanoparticles
Summary
Photocatalysis deals with the occurrence of oxidation and reduction reactions on the surface of a solid material (photo-catalyst) due to photogenerated charge carriers (holes and electrons) [1]. Electrons move towards conduction bands, creating holes in the valance band, leading to degradation of organic pollutants by oxidation and reduction reactions [15]. The band-gap in BFO can be tuned by doping with rare-earth or transition metals [19,20,21,22,23], fabricating its hybrid or composite structures with other materials such as graphene [24,25,26,27]. Rare-earth metal doping, inside BFO, improved its physical and chemical properties drastically [16,17,18,19,23,31].
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