Combustion synthesis, characterization, and photodegradation performance of La2-xBixCuO4

Abstract

Quaternary metal oxide system of the type, La2-xBixCuO4, where x = 0, 0.01, 0.03, 0.06, 0.08 have been synthesized by the combustion method. The crystalline phases and purity of nanostructures were confirmed by X-ray diffraction, which showed that they crystallized in the orthorhombic system of Bamb space group. Furthermore, they tend to adopt the quadratic system upon the incorporation of Bi atom into the lattices of the compound. A vibrational study shows the disappearance of absorption band around 680 cm−1 due to crystallographic system transformation. Morphological characterization by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) indicated that the micrographs are composed of nanometric crystallite particles with porous microstructure. The photocatalytic property of these materials was evaluated by monitoring the degradation of Malachite green under sunlight and the disappearance of the band characteristic of malachite green around 620 nm occurred after 240 min. The efficiency of La2-xBixCuO4 is 64, 68, 75, 89, and 83% for the nanostructures for x = 0, 0.01, 0.03, 0.06, 0.08, respectively.