A high surface area ordered mesoporous BiFeO3 semiconductor with efficient water oxidation activity

作者：Papadas Ioannis; Christodoulides Joseph A; Kioseoglou George; Armatas Gerasimos S^*

来源：Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2015, 3(4): 1587-1593.

DOI：10.1039/c4ta05272b

Bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3) is an important multiferroic oxide material because of its unique magnetic and ferroelectric properties. Here, we synthesize for the first time a highly ordered mesoporous BiFeO3 semiconductor using tartaric acid-assisted growth of the BiFeO3 compound inside the pores of a carbon template. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and N-2 physisorption measurements reveal that the template-free material possesses a three-dimensional hexagonal mesostructure with a Large internal BET surface area (141 m(2) g(-1)) and narrow sized pores (ca. 4 nm). Aka, the pore was comprise single-phase BiFeO3 nanocrystals according to the high-resolution TEM, electron diffraction and magnetic experiments. The mesoporous BiFeO3 shows high activity for the photocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) under UV-visible Light (lambda > 380 nm), affording an average oxygen evolution rate of 66 mu mol h(-1) g(-1). We also show that the propensity of photogenerated hales for the OER can be significanty enhanced when 1 wt% Au nanoparticles are deposited on the BiFeO3 surface. The Au/BiFeO3 heterostructure exerts excellent OER activity (586 mu mol h(-1) g(-1)) and Long-term cycling stability, raising the possibility for the design of effective and robust OER photocatalysts.

• 出版日期2015