Exploring the electrical and magnetic characteristics of novel barium-doped bismuth ferrite (Bi0.9Ba0.1FeO3) nanocomposites and their applications for electrocatalytic degradation of Congo red dye

Abstract

Bismuth perovskite Bi_0.9Ba_0.1FeO₃ nanoparticles were synthesized by a solution-combustion technique at a fuel-to-oxidizer ratio equal to unity (∅ = (F/O) = 1), where the effect of fuel type on their structural, electric, magnetic, and photocatalytic properties was discussed. Using Rietveld refinement with FullProf software, the prepared materials were characterized by XRD and SEM to examine their composition and morphology. Results revealed that the perovskite's pure phase ranged from 74% to 100%. Meanwhile, Scherrer, Williamson–Hall, and SEM investigations were used to calculate the crystallite sizes of the samples, which ranged from 18.5–27.7 nm, 23–32 nm, 23.8–34.3 nm, and 53.8–292.8 nm, respectively. In addition, the increase in DC conductivity is explained by decreased grain boundary scattering, due to the reduction of crystallite size. The multiferroic nanoparticles' estimated activation energy ranged from 0.39 to 0.07 eV. The transition temperature was 368 K for urea and triethanolamine (TEA) samples, while the other samples were pushed to a lower temperature, where conduction followed non-adiabatic small polaron hopping (SPH). Meanwhile, TEA and fuel-free samples appear to have a high magnetization parameter. The coercivity Hc of the TEA sample is three times greater than the others. According to the tests conducted to assess the nanoparticles' electrocatalytic performances, every fuel utilized in nanoparticle production process significantly impacts the electrocatalytic degradation of Congo red (CR) dye. When the 4 minutes experiment was over, all dye content in the solution was eliminated. The synthesized Bi_0.9Ba_0.1FeO₃ using various fuels considerably impacts the parameters under study. Therefore, appropriate magnetic, electrical, and electrocatalysis properties were achieved by modifying the fuel type.