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Enhanced photocatalytic activity in Al-substituted Bi2Fe4O9 submicrocrystals

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Abstract

Bi2(Fe1−x Al x )4O9 (x = 0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7) samples were synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transformed infrared spectra, N2-sorption, and UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectra, and their photocatalytic activities were evaluated by the degradation of methyl orange under visible-light irradiation. The results reveal that the Al substitution can effectively improve photocatalytic performance, which is attributed to the increase of surface area, the improvement of energy band structure, and the distortion of the Fe–O octahedron in Al-substituted samples. In addition, it is found that the photocatalytic activity to decompose methyl orange under visible-light illumination increases monotonically as x increases from zero to 0.5 in Bi2(Fe1−x Al x )4O9 and then decreases for x = 0.7, which is believed to be associated with the distribution of Fe3+ ions over the octahedral and tetrahedral sites.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2012QNA07). We would like to thank the staff of Analysis Center.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Material Science and Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    ZhangSheng Liu, DaGen Yin & YaBo Zhu

  2. Post-doctoral Mobile Station of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    ZhangSheng Liu & LianGuo Wang

  3. School of Information and Electrical Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    BianTao Wu

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  1. ZhangSheng Liu
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  2. BianTao Wu
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  3. DaGen Yin
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Correspondence to ZhangSheng Liu.

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Liu, Z., Wu, B., Yin, D. et al. Enhanced photocatalytic activity in Al-substituted Bi2Fe4O9 submicrocrystals. J Mater Sci 47, 6777–6783 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-012-6600-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-012-6600-2

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