Photocatalytic application of BiFeO3 synthesized via a facile microwave-assisted solution combustion method

Bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) nanopowder have been successfully synthesized for the first time via a microwave-assisted sol-gel combustion method by using citric acid as fuel. The resulting nanopowder was characterized using FT-IR, TG-DTA, XRD, EDX, VSM, SEM, and UV-Vis DRS. A ferromagnetic hysteresis loop with a saturation magnetization (M-S) of 0.66 emu g(-1) has been observed at room temperature in the sample. The optical properties of the nanosized BiFeO3 showed its small band gap (=2.08 eV) indicates a possibility of utilizing much visible light for photocatalysis. [GRAPHICS] .