Magnetically recoverable and visible-light-driven nanocrystalline YFeO3 photocatalysts

Abstract

The single nanocrystalline perovskite YFeO₃ was synthesized using Fe(NO₃)₃·9H₂O and Y(NO₃)₃·6H₂O by a facile microwave-assisted approach. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) demonstrate the successful synthesis of single perovskite YFeO₃ and an average grain size of 60–70 nm in diameter. The prepared YFeO₃ shows a Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area of 11.7 m² g⁻¹. UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) shows the optical absorption onset of 511 nm, indicating the optical band gap of 2.43 eV. Ferromagnetic character was demonstrated by the hysteresis loop in the as-prepared YFeO₃ nanoparticles. The photocatalytic experiment shows a high activity for decomposition of Rhodamine B under visible-light irradiation, which is attributed to the strong visible-light absorption. The recovery of YFeO₃ photocatalysts was performed after the photocatalytic experiment, and it is found that YFeO₃ nanocrystalline photocatalysts can be efficiently recovered by an external magnet without the need for a conventional filtration step.