Sunlight-induced photocatalytic degradation of indigo carmine using Bi5Ti3FeO15 layered structure

Abstract

A sample of an Aurivillius structure formulated as Bi5Ti3FeO15 was prepared via a simple co-precipitation of Bi(NO3)3, Ti(OEt)4 and FeCl3 salts and was characterized based on XRD, FE-SEM, EDS, FT-IR, Uv–vis, DRS, BET and VSM techniques. The XRD pattern shows an orthorhombic phase of Bi9Ti6FeO27. The crystallite size of the sample was estimated by the Scherrer equation (55 nm) and the Williamson-Hall (W–H) (45 nm) methods. The micro strain (ε) and dislocation density (δ) values were determined using W-H method as 0.0297 and 4.94*10−4 respectively. The band-gap energy of Bi5Ti3FeO15 was determined by the Tauc equation from its DRS analysis as 2.03 eV. The sample shows reasonable magnetic parameters Ms =2.003 emu/cc, Mr = 0.95 emu/cc, and Hc =30 Oe. Finally, the photocatalytic degradation of indigo carmine was investigated by Bi5Ti3FeO15 nanostructure under natural sunlight irradiation condition. The maximum degradation of indigo carmine was achieved at pH = 4, catalyst dosage (0.06 g) and pigment concentration (30 ppm).