Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic activity of LaMnO3 nanoparticles

Visible-light sensitive LaMnO3 nanoparticles were synthesized via sol-gel process using stearic acid as complexing reagent. Characterizations of the resulting powders were carried out by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). Further, the photocatalytic activity of LaMnO3 was evaluated by degradation of methyl orange in aqueous solution under visible-light irradiation. The prepared nanoparticles showed excellent visible-light photocatalytic ability for the degradation of methyl orange so that, 60 ppm of nanoparticles can decolorizes the methyl orange solution (6 ppm) up to 98% in 90 min.