Enhanced photovoltaic and sunlight-driven photocatalysis for water purification study of rare-earth and transition-element-doped bismuth ferrites

Bismuth ferrite (BFO) has gathered recent research interest due to the wide opportunity to engineer its optical, magnetic, and ferroelectric properties by doping it with suitable elements. Doping in BFO largely influences the optical and ferroelectric properties for various applications. Pristine and co-doped with rare-earth (Pr) and transition-metal elements (Mn, Co, and Cr) bismuth ferrite were synthesized using the sol-gel technique. X-ray diffraction analysis has been employed to extract the structural parameters of synthesized samples. As revealed through SEM analysis, grain size decreases by incorporating dopants in BFO. A significant improvement was observed in doped BFO samples. A decrease in the optical bandgap of BFO, having values in the range of 2.23-1.59 eV, has been observed with doping, resulting in an improved photovoltaic and photocatalytic response of the samples. The power conversion efficiency for doped samples suggests an improvement in the photovoltaic properties compared to pure BFO (eta% similar to 0.0382-12.4). In addition, an enhancement in photocatalytic efficiency (eta% similar to 90.08 to 96.89) has been observed for doped samples. Obtained results suggest that co-doping of rare-earth and transition elements in bismuth ferrite is a promising approach with wide applications in ferroelectrics, photovoltaics, and photocatalysis.