Abstract
An attempt has been made to enhance the photocatalytic activity of bismuth ferrite by doping it with cobalt, to prepare a catalyst to use in wide pH range for the photodegradation of Evans blue dye. The progress of the reaction has been monitored spectrophotometrically by measuring the absorbance of the reaction mixture at definite time intervals. Different parameters such as pH, the concentration of dye, amount of semiconductor and light intensity were varied to achieve the optimum rate of photodegradation. The results show that doping of bismuth ferrite by cobalt increases the rate of photocatalytic degradation due to narrowing of the band gap. Undoped bismuth ferrite has the highest catalytic activity in basic while the Co-doped catalyst in acidic medium. A tentative mechanism for the reaction has been proposed.
Highlights
Natural water resources are becoming polluted as a result of human activities, including industries causing water pollution
The results show that doping of bismuth ferrite by cobalt increases the rate of photocatalytic degradation due to narrowing of the band gap
We have studied the effect of Co-doping on the photocatalytic activity of BiFeO3 in the degradation of Evans Blue dye
Summary
Natural water resources are becoming polluted as a result of human activities, including industries causing water pollution. The most common methods used for the treatment of effluents from dyeing industries are membrane filtration, coagulation-flocculation, biological treatment, catalytic oxidation, sorption process, ion exchange, etc. These treatment methods for the removal of dyes from the waste water suffer from some or other drawbacks. Undoped and Co-doped bismuth ferrite were synthesized by hydrothermal, and polyol methods, respectively and these were characterized by SEM-EDS techniques.[25] To a solution of Bi(NO3)3.5H2O in ethylene glycol, a stoichiometric amount of Fe(NO3)3.9H2O in distilled water was slowly added under vigorous stirring for 30 min. The solution was heated up to 200°C for 90 min to remove the ethylene glycol
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