Graphene oxide nanocomposite with Co and Fe doped LaCrO3 perovskite active under solar light irradiation for the enhanced degradation of crystal violet dye

Abstract

Pristine LaCrO3 and Co, Fe co-doped La1-xCoxCr1-yFeyO3 (x, y = 0.24) perovskite nanoparticles was prepared via micro-emulsion method and the La1-xCoxCr1−yFeyO3 composite was prepared with 5% reduced-graphene oxide (r-GO) by ultra-sonication process. The morphological, structural and thermal properties were investigated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Raman Spectroscopy, Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques. The effect of Co, Fe doping and r-GO on the conductivity of the synthesized samples was investigated by current-voltage (I-V) analysis. The perovskite structure was orthorhombic with particle size in 21.24 to 31.58 nm range. Crystal violet (CV) dye was selected for evaluation of photocatalytic activity (PCA) of the prepared materials under visible light irradiation. La1-xCoxCr1-yFeyO3/r-GO showed remarkably higher PCA as compared to pristine LaCrO3 and La1-xCoxCr1-yFeyO3. The r-GO composite furnished the CV dye degradation of 89.08% within 100 min irradiation under visible light at the light intensity in the range of 864.45–872.86 W/m2. This valuable enhancement in PCA was due to the structural features of La1-xCoxCr1-yFeyO3/r-GO nanocomposite. In view of promising PCA, the composite has potential for the catalytic degradation of dyes in effluents using sunlight irradiation.