Abstract
We report on the fabrication of sub-20 nm BiFeO3 (BFO) nanoparticles using a solid-state approach and preferential leching process. The nanoparticles were subsequently used to deposit, through spray pyrolysis, BFO thin films in a rhombohedral (R3c) crystallographic structure. Then, systematic investigations of the optical and the photocatalytic properties were conducted to determine the effects of the particles size, the microstructure and the increased surface area on their catalytic performances. Especially, improved optical properties were observed, with an optical bandgap energy of 2.20 eV compared to reported 2.7 eV for the bulk system. In addition, high optical absorption was obtained in the UV–visible light region reaching up to 90% at 400 nm. The photoelectrochemical measurements revealed a high photocurrent density under visible light irradiation. Besides, density functional theory calculations were performed on both bulk and thin film BFO structures, revealing an interesting comparison of the electronic, magnetic, ferroelectric and optical properties for bulk and thin film BFO systems. Both theoretical and experimental findings show that the alignment of the band edges of BFO thin film is coherent with good photocatalytic water splitting potential, making them desirable photoanode materials.
Highlights
Energy demand in recent years has shown significant growth owing to the world’s growing population and constant development of technology-based industries
Similar results were reported by Sharma et al [39] who extensively investigated the formation of bismuth ferrite using a solid-state reaction by TGA/differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)
Based on the TGA/DSC experiments, a temperature of 700 ◦ C was selected for further BFO powder heat treatment
Summary
Energy demand in recent years has shown significant growth owing to the world’s growing population and constant development of technology-based industries. Fossil fuels constitute the most dominant energy consumption. Their carbon footprint and harmful gas emissions are at the forefront of environmentally impactful dangers both on peoples’ and the globe’s health [1,2]. Harnessing sunlight energy is perhaps one of the most straightforward and continuously available routes to produce energy on demand clean, sustainable and renewable. Among an important diversity of methods to exploit the solar energy, producing hydrogen through the splitting of water molecules into its constituent elements has recently attracted a lot of interest [3,4]
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