Investigation of the photocatalytic activity of ceramic nanocomposite material based on BATIO3 with iron oxide

In this study, barium titanate was modified by introducing magnetite at 1 % and 10 % levels during sol-gel synthesis to determine the effects of ceramic nanocomposite composition on photocatalytic activity and structural features. Particle size, phase and elemental composition, and specific surface area were analysed. The proposed chemical reactions that occur during the preparation of a nanocomposite material and the resulting oxide forms of iron as a result of heat treatment are described. The second-order phase transitions were detected in the samples by differential scanning calorimetry. It was found that the average particle size of the powders tested did not exceed 205 nm. The band gap for the tested samples reduses with increasing proportion of iron oxide introduced: the band gap is 3.2 eV for BaTiO₃, and for BaTiO₃/1 % Fe₃O₄ - 3.2 eV. The photocatalytic activity of the powders during the decomposition of the organic dye rhodamine B was investigated. The proportion of decomposed dye on the catalysts in the aqueous solution was as follows: for BaTiO₃ - 31 %, for BaTiO₃/1 % Fe₃O₄ - 56 % and for BaTiO₃/10 % Fe₃O₄ - 39 %. The influence of the phase composition and the system of barium titanate in the samples on the catalytic activity was determined. Possible mechanisms of photocatalytic degradation of the pollutant are considered. The operation of catalysts in cyclic mode was tested.