Visible Light Driven Photocatalytic Activity of Granular Pr Doped LaFeO3

摘要

The use of the perovskite oxides as the photocatalyst for the degradation of the aquatic pollutants and for the renewable energy production (by converting the solar energy into the chemical energy) is of huge research interest. The effect of Pr doping on the photocatalytic activity of the perovskite oxide LaFeO3 synthesized by the sol-gel route has been investigated. The materials are characterized by the scanning electron microscopy, UV-Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy and impedance spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of the materials is achieved by the photocatalytic decomposition of the aqueous solution of the pollutant rhodamine B (Rh-B) under the visible light irradiation. The Pr doped materials show more enhanced photocatalytic efficiency than the pure LaFeO3. The 50% Pr doped LaFeO3 (La0.5Pr0.5FeO3) shows 93% degradation of Rh-B in 4h. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of Pr doped LaFeO3 may be due to the increased optical absorption, the decreased recombination probability of the electron-hole pairs, as well as the efficient migration of the photogenerated charge carriers. The mechanism of the photocatalytic activity of the materials has also been discussed.