Nanomaterials (Jan 2019)

Significant Enhancement of the Visible Light Photocatalytic Properties in 3D BiFeO3/Graphene Composites

  • Jiquan Li,
  • Youyan Wang,
  • Huan Ling,
  • Ye Qiu,
  • Jia Lou,
  • Xu Hou,
  • Sankar Parsad Bag,
  • Jie Wang,
  • Huaping Wu,
  • Guozhong Chai

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9010065
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 1
p. 65

Abstract

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Bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3, BFO) submicron cubes and 3D BFO/graphene composite materials were synthesized by a simple hydrothermal process. The crystallization processes of the 3D BFO/graphene composites with different graphene oxide (GO) concentrations were studied for their visible light photocatalytic properties. Compared to the single BFO submicron cubes, 3D BFO/graphene composites have greatly improved photocatalytic activity. A high photocatalytic performance is obtained at a GO concentration of 3 mg/mL, with the degradation rate of methylene blue (MB) dye reaching up to 92% in 140 min. The enhancement of photocatalytic activity can be attributed to the large specific surface area and 3D architecture of 3D composites, which provide more transport paths to effectively improve the separation rate of photo-generated electrons and holes. Therefore, 3D BFO/graphene composites have a broad prospect of application in the field of photocatalysis.

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