Ultrasonic synthesis of perovskite-type BaCeO3/Fe2O3 composites with enhanced photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B

Abstract

As the environmental issues of organic dyes pollutants are becoming more and more severe, the need to develop emerging technologies to effectively eliminate pollutants is becoming increasingly urgent. In this work, the perovskite-type [Formula: see text]/[Formula: see text] composites were successfully synthesized by a simple ultrasonic water bath. The obtained composite was characterized by various techniques such as XRD, FTIR, SEM and UV-Vis. The photocatalytic performance of the composite was investigated by degrading rhodamine B under 25 W and 254 nm UV irradiation. Moreover, we investigated the optimum preparation conditions of [Formula: see text]/[Formula: see text] photocatalyst with a [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text] mass ratio of 1:1 and a temperature of [Formula: see text]C for 2 h. In addition, the operating parameters of the photocatalytic reaction were systematically studied such as the initial concentration of solution, catalyst dosage and solution initial pH. The results showed that the photocatalytic decolorization rate of rhodamine B could reach 97.5% by adding 1 g/L [Formula: see text]/[Formula: see text] photocatalyst to 100 mL of 20 mg/L rhodamine B solution at pH 2 for 2 h. What’s more, the [Formula: see text]/[Formula: see text] catalyst was shown to be reusable and stable by cycling tests, and the use of active species trapping agents determined the predominance of •[Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] in the reaction system. Finally, the possible mechanism of enhancement of photocatalytic activity was initially discussed.