Enhanced photocatalytic dye degradation and hydrogen production ability of Bi25FeO40-rGO nanocomposite and mechanism insight

Abstract

Abstract A comprehensive comparison between BiFeO 3 -reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanocomposite and Bi 25 FeO 40 -rGO nanocomposite has been performed to investigate their photocatalytic abilities in degradation of Rhodamine B dye and generation of hydrogen by water-splitting. The hydrothermal technique adapted for synthesis of the nanocomposites provides a versatile temperature-controlled phase selection between perovskite BiFeO 3 and sillenite Bi 25 FeO 40 . Both perovskite and sillenite structured nanocomposites are stable and exhibit considerably higher photocatalytic ability over pure BiFeO 3 nanoparticles and commercially available Degussa P25 titania. Notably, Bi 25 FeO 40 -rGO nanocomposite has demonstrated superior photocatalytic ability and stability under visible light irradiation than that of BiFeO 3 -rGO nanocomposite. The possible mechanism behind the superior photocatalytic performance of Bi 25 FeO 40 -rGO nanocomposite has been critically discussed.