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Effect of rare earth dopants on the morphologies and photocatalytic activities of BiFeO3 microcrystallites

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Abstract

Pure and rare earth elements (La, Yb)-doped BiFeO3 microcrystallites were synthesized by a typical hydrothermal process. The crystal structure, morphologies and photocatalytic activities of these microcrystallites were investigated. The results and analysis revealed that substitution of La and Yb not only changed the energy band gap of BiFeO3 system, but also affected the morphologies and dimensions of BiFeO3 microcrystallites. Despite much smaller particle size compared with pure BiFeO3, the Yb-doped BiFeO3 microcrystallites exhibited lower photocatalytic efficiency due to much larger energy band gap, which suggests the energy band configuration intensely influences the photocatalytic activity rather than the particle size.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51272204), Natural Science Basis Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (Program No. 2011JM6001), Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (No. 20110201120003), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 20110491653) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (No. XJJ20100148 & 2011JDHZ10), is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Chunfang Wu, Jie Wei & Fansheng Kong

  2. Electronic Materials Research Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Jie Wei

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  1. Chunfang Wu
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  2. Jie Wei
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  3. Fansheng Kong
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Correspondence to Jie Wei.

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Wu, C., Wei, J. & Kong, F. Effect of rare earth dopants on the morphologies and photocatalytic activities of BiFeO3 microcrystallites. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 24, 1530–1535 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-012-0966-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-012-0966-4

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