Synthesis and characterization of LaFeO3/TiO2 nanocomposites for visible light photocatalytic activity

LaFeO3/TiO2 nanocomposites were successfully synthesized by hydrothermal method. The as-prepared nanoparticles were characterized by TGA, XRD, HRSEM, EDS, TEM, VSM and UV-Vis techniques. Thermal stability of the material was studied by thermal analysis. XRD studies confirm the orthorhombic and ruffle phase for pure LaFeO3 and TiO2 nanoparticles. The LaFeO3/TiO2 composite shows the coexistence of LaFeO3 and TiO2 phases with no extra peaks. Morphological analysis shows the spherical nanoparticles and the average particle size of LaFeO3, TiO2 and LaFeO3/TiO2 was around 60 nm. The LaFeO3/TiO2 nanocomposites show a significant shift in the UV vis absorption spectra in comparison with both TiO2 and LaFeO3 nanoparticles. The photocatalytic activity of the samples were tested for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) in aqueous solutions under visible light irradiations for 180 min. The LaFeO3/TiO2 composite exhibits enhanced visible light photocatalytic properties in comparison with that of LaFeO3 nanoparticles.