PVP assisted hydrothermal fabrication and morphology-controllable fabrication of BiFeO3 uniform nanostructures with enhanced photocatalytic activities

Bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) nanostructures with various morphologies (spindles, cubes and plates) have been successfully synthesized via a convenient one-pot hydrothermal method. The results show that three kinds of BiFeO3 products were obtained in this polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-assisted hydrothermal reaction under different alkaline conditions. The resulting nanostructures were characterized using XRD and SEM. Possible formation mechanism for BiFeO3 nanostructures was proposed on the basis of our results. The experiments showed that the visible light absorptive capacity of the BiFeO3 nanostructures was significant influenced on the size and morphology. Notably, the as-prepared BiFeO3 plates with (104) facets exposed exhibit high efficiency for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) under visible light irradiation, suggesting potential applications in photocatalytic and related areas under visible light.