Photocatalytic properties of BiFeO3 powders synthesized by the mixture of CTAB and Glycine

N Asefi; M Hasheminiasari; S M Masoudpanah

doi:10.1038/s41598-023-39622-4

Photocatalytic properties of BiFeO₃ powders synthesized by the mixture of CTAB and Glycine

Sci Rep. 2023 Jul 31;13(1):12338. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-39622-4.

Authors

N Asefi¹, M Hasheminiasari², S M Masoudpanah¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Narmak, Tehran, Iran.
² School of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Narmak, Tehran, Iran. mhashemi@iust.ac.ir.

Abstract

Highly pure BiFeO₃ (BFO) powders were prepared by the solution combustion synthesis method using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and glycine as fuels at various fuel-to-oxidant (φ) ratios. Microstructural characteristics, morphology, optical properties, and thermal analysis were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), and differential thermal/thermogravimetry (DTA/TGA), respectively. The combusted powders prepared at different fuel content contained a small amount of impurity phases such as Bi₂₄Fe₂O₃₉ and Bi₂Fe₄O₉. During the calcination of BFO powders at 600 °C for 1 h, a nearly pure BFO phase was produced. Combusted powders photodegraded about 80% of methylene blue dye at φ = 2 through 90 min of visible light irradiation.