Preparation and Photoelectric Properties of C-LaFeO3 Composites

The C spheres synthesized by a hydrothermal method were used as a C source, which was doped with LaFeO3 to obtain C-LaFeO3 composites with different C contents (5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%). The effects of C content on the structure, morphology, and photoelectric properties of LaFeO3 were investigated experimentally. The results show that C doping does not change the crystal structure of LaFeO3. The proper amount of C doping improves the photocatalytic and electrochemical activities of the composites. However, excessive C reduces the photocatalytic and electrochemical activities of the C-LaFeO3 composites. Comparing the different C contents, when the C content is 15%, the photocatalytic performance of C-LaFeO3 photodegrading methylene blue solution (MB) under visible light is the best, reaching an efficiency of 97%. In addition, electrochemical tests in a 6 M KOH electrolyte solution demonstrate that C doping significantly improves the redox reaction capacity, and the specific capacitance of 15% C-LaFeO3 (466.08) F/g) at a current density of 0.5 A/g is about 2.5 times that of LaFeO3 (180.10 F/g). Furthermore, EIS studies show that that the ion diffusion resistance of the 15% C-LaFeO3 electrode decreased, which is indicative of good electrochemical performance.

Automated summary

In this study, C spheres were synthesized via a hydrothermal method and used as a C source to obtain C-LaFeO3 composites with different C contents (5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%). The effects of C content on the structure, morphology, and photoelectric properties of LaFeO3 were investigated experimentally. The results showed that proper C doping improved the photocatalytic and electrochemical activities of the composites, while excessive C reduced their activities. Among the different C contents, the 15% C-LaFeO3 composite exhibited the best photocatalytic performance, with a degradation efficiency of 97% for methylene blue solution under visible light. Moreover, C doping significantly enhanced the redox reaction capacity and specific capacitance of the composites, with the 15% C-LaFeO3 composite having a specific capacitance about 2.5 times that of LaFeO3.