Enhanced photocatalytic performance by Y-doped BiFeO3 particles derived from MOFs precursor based on band gap reduction and oxygen vacancies

In order to improve the photocatalytic performance of BiFeO3, we prepared BiFeO3 nanoparticles doped with different molar concentrations of Y by thermal decomposition of MOFs precursor. The samples were characterized by XRD, TG, FESEM, XPS, UV-vis, and PL. The results of XRD and XPS reveal that Y3+ have been successfully incorporated into BiFeO3 lattice. FESEM and UV-vis results reveal that Y doping leads to a decrease in BiFeO3 particle size and band gap. PL shows that the recombination rate of photogenerated electron hole pairs of Bi0.95Y0.05FeO3 is the lowest. The influences of Y doping content on photocatalytic activity of BiFeO3 have been investigated. The results show that the best photocatalytic activity is Bi0.95Y0.05FeO3. Compared with pure BiFeO3, Bi0.95Y0.05FeO3 increased the degradation rate of MO by 1.3 times in 120 min. This may be due to the larger light response range and the lower photogenerated electron hole pairs recombination rate.

Automated summary

Y doping improves the photocatalytic performance of BiFeO3, with Bi0.95Y0.05FeO3 showing the best activity due to its smaller particle size and lower rate of recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs.