Solvent-Free Combustion-Assisted Synthesis of LaFe<sub>0.5</sub>Cr<sub>0.5</sub>O<sub>3</sub> Nanostructures for Excellent Photocatalytic Performance toward Water Decontamination: The Effect of Fuel on Structural, Magnetic, and Photocatalytic Properties
Shikha Sharma, Irfan Qadir, Amit Kumar Atri, Sumit Singh, Ujwal Manhas, Devinder Singh
Abstract
fabricated using urea is found to be higher than that of the samples prepared using other fuels. The magnetic measurements of all samples done using a SQUID magnetometer showed a dominant antiferromagnetic character along with some weak ferromagnetic interactions. The optical band gap of all nanosamples lies in the visible range (2-2.6 eV), making them suitable photocatalysts in visible light. Their use as a photocatalyst for the degradation of the rhodamine B dye (model pollutant) is studied, and it has been observed that the catalyst fabricated using urea shows excellent degradation efficiency for rhodamine B, i.e., 99% in 60 min, with high reusability up to five runs. Additionally, the degradation of other organic dyes such as methylene blue, methyl orange, and a mixture of these dyes (rhodamine B + methylene blue + methyl orange) is also investigated with the most active photocatalyst, i.e., LFCO-U, to check its versatility.