Preparation and Photocatalytic Activity of Nanocrystalline GdFeO_3

摘要

With Gd_2O_3, Fe(NO_3)_3-9H_2O, and nitric acid(l: 1 volume fraction) as starting materials, nanocrystalline material of rare-earth composite oxide GdFeO_3 with perovskite-type structure was synthesized by sol-gel method in the system of citric acid. Structural characteristics were characterized by XRD and TEM, which indicate that the sample is nanocrys-tallite with uniform grain size distribution and the average grain size is about 21 nm. Its crystal structure includes a certain amount of lattice distortion due to decrease of grain size and increase of surface area. Photocatalytic properties of this material were tested by decolorization of various water-soluble dyes. Effects of irradiation time and amount of GdFeO_3 on photo-catalytic activity were also investigated. The results show that nano-sized GdFeO_3 exhibits high photocatalytic activity and that increase of irradiation time and the amount of GdFeO_3 can improve its photocatalytic activity.