Hydrothermal synthesis of bismuth ferrite Fenton-like catalysts and their properties

Bismuth ferrite, Fenton-like catalysts have been successfully synthesized via simple hydrothermal methods without any templates. Through changing the molar ratio of Bi/Fe, the two main phases BiFeO3 and Bi25FeO40 can be synthesized under different temperatures. Furthermore, different morphologies of the BiFeO3 phase can be adjusted by changing different concentrations of HNO3 and NaOH which were used to dissolve the reactants and adjust the pH values in the prepared process. When the concentration of HNO3/NaOH was 8/12 M, some uniform cylindrical bodies with equal height (1 μm) and width (0.6 μm) were obtained, which have not been reported before. The uniform structures exhibited better activities in the photoassisted Fenton-like oxidation process for the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation (420 nm < λ < 800 nm). Through the detection of the degradation mechanism, it showed that the concerted effect of the catalysts and H2O2 can increase the generation of the charge carriers and accelerate the photogenerated charge transfer between the catalysts and dyes. The BiFeO3 samples also showed magnetic properties at room temperature, which may have potential applications in multiferroic or magnetoelectric sensors and devices.