Synthesis and characterization of 2-D La-doped Bi2O3 for photocatalytic degradation of organic dye and pesticide

Abstract

Photocatalytic degradation of organic dye by AOP's is an effective method to minimize water pollution. The semiconducting materials have a larger bandgap and difficult to fabricate in the form of 2 D-films. Here we report a simple method for the effective fabrication of undoped and La-doped Bi2O3 thin films by a chemical solution deposition method. The incorporation of lanthanum dopant was successfully done and confirmed with the help of SEM, EDAX, XRD, and other advanced characterization techniques. A brilliant flower-like morphology and incorporation of La ions in Bi2O3 lattice helped the fabricated doped thin film for efficient degradation of carbol fuchsin (CF) organic dye, and Chlorpyrifos (CPS) organic pesticide under 120 min of stimulating light source irradiation. Detailed deposition effect on morphology is discussed. The narrowing of bandgap (2.85 eV) in the doped thin film as compared to undoped Bi2O3 film (3.01 eV) resulted in efficient degradation of CF up to 89% with a rate constant of 0.520 min−1 and CPS to 67% with 0.366 min−1. The scavenger addition confirmed ●OH as the major ROS and, metabolites formed during the degradation are identified by LC-MC analysis of degraded samples of both CF and CPS. The reusability study confirmed the efficiency of films up to multiple catalytic cycles. The work confirmed La-Bi2O3 film was effective for the degradation of moieties from a separate class of organic framework.

Keywords

• La-doped Bi2O3
• Thin film
• Photodegradation
• Chlorpyrifos
• Scavengers
• Metabolites