Photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B dye under visible light using cerium-cobalt co-doped bismuth ferrite nanoparticles

Abstract

The present study designates the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of RhB dye using cerium-cobalt co-doped BiFeO3 nanoparticles. Nanoparticles of Ce0.1CoxBi1-xFe2O3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.2) have been facilely synthesized via sol-gel auto-combustion method. FESEM analysis revealed the irregular-shaped nanoparticles with agglomerated coalescence behaviour and the element composition in Ce0.1CoxBi1-xFe2O3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.2) was confirmed in EDX. The crystallite size can be calculated around 64 nm to 71 nm for pure BiFeO3 nanoparticles and in range of 41 nm to 60 nm for the co-doped BiFeO3 nanoparticles. XRD diffraction confirmed the presence of secondary phase (Sillenite) and tertiary phase (Millate) when dopant concentration increased. From TGA profile, the ideal annealing temperature of 600 °C have been confirmed for all samples. Furthermore, the photocatalytic degradation of RhB dye has been improved via cerium-cobalt co-doping. UV spectra showed that the RhB dye solution constantly changes pink colour into colourless within 20 minutes of visible light irradiation to fully degraded.