An efficient visible light driven bismuth ferrite incorporated bismuth oxyiodide (BiFeO3/BiOI) composite photocatalytic material for degradation of pollutants

An efficient BiFeO3/BiOI composite photocatalytic material was fabricated via simple wet impregnation process and photocatalytic performances were evaluated by the catalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) and bisphenol A (BPA) in visible-light illumination. Structural, light absorption and morphological features of the fabricated photocatalysts were investigated by various spectroscopic and microscopic procedures. The photodegradation efficiency results demonstrated that the BiFeO3/BiOI composite with 2 wt% loading of BiFeO3 (2% BiFeO3/BiOI) displayed the higher photocatalytic activity than various other BiFeO3 loadings, pristine BiOI and BiFeO3. A maximal photodegradation efficiency of RhB and BPA are ∼100% and 71% were accomplished using the optimized composite when compared to merely ∼56% and ∼36% using pristine BiOI, respectively. The significant enhancement in the photodegradation rates of RhB (∼5 times) and BPA (∼2 times) pollutants using 2% BiFeO3/BiOI composite is credited to the efficient charge separation of photoinduced hole-electron pairs by transferring the electrons from BiOI to BiFeO3 catalyst surface. The photostability results revealed that the compost was retained their photocatalytic activity up to 3 cycles of degradation experiments. The higher photocatalytic activity, long time stability and reusability tests exposed that the BiFeO3/BiOI composite might be a potential photocatalytic material for topical applications in the field of water treatment.