Effect of Morphology Modification of BiFeO 3 on Photocatalytic Efficacy of P-g-C 3 N 4 /BiFeO 3 Composites.

This current study assessed the impacts of morphology adjustment of perovskite BiFeO 3 (BFO) on the construction and photocatalytic activity of P-infused g-C 3 N 4 /U-BiFeO 3 (U-BFO/PCN) heterostructured composite photocatalysts. Favorable formation of U-BFO/PCN composites was attained via urea-aided morphology-controlled hydrothermal synthesis of BFO followed by solvosonication-mediated fusion with already synthesized P-g-C 3 N 4 to form U-BFO/PCN composites. The prepared bare and composite photocatalysts' morphological, textural, structural, optical, and photocatalytic performance were meticulously examined through various analytical characterization techniques and photodegradation of aqueous rhodamine B (RhB). Ellipsoids and flakes morphological structures were obtained for U-BFO and BFO, and their effects on the successful fabrication of the heterojunctions were also established. The U-BFO/PCN composite exhibits 99.2% efficiency within 20 min of visible-light irradiation, surpassing BFO/PCN (88.5%), PCN (66.8%), and U-BFO (26.1%). The pseudo-first-order kinetics of U-BFO/PCN composites is 2.41 × 10 -1 min -1 , equivalent to 2.2 times, 57 times, and 4.3 times of BFO/PCN (1.08 × 10 -1 min -1 ), U-BFO, (4.20 × 10 -3 min -1 ), and PCN, (5.60 × 10 -2 min -1 ), respectively. The recyclability test demonstrates an outstanding photostability for U-BFO/PCN after four cyclic runs. This improved photocatalytic activity exhibited by the composites can be attributed to enhanced visible-light utilization and additional accessible active sites due to surface and electronic band modification of CN via P-doping and effective charge separation achieved via successful composites formation.