Enhancement of photocatalytic activities of perovskite LaFeO3 composite by incorporating nanographene platelets

Abstract

LaFeO3/NGP composites with several concentrations of NGP by weight percent were prepared using co-precipitation methods. The ferromagnetic behavior of LaFeO3/NGP composites was characterized by vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), while the structural properties were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis. The LaFeO3 nanoparticles with and without NGP show orthorhombic structure and ferromagnetic behavior. The samples were used to degrade methylene blue using visible light irradiation. The obtained results revealed that the photocatalytic performance of LaFeO3/NGP composites increased with increasing NGP from 3 wt.% up to 5 wt.%. The main factors influencing the photocatalytic activity were studied and are discussed herein.