Photocatalytic performance of nanocrystalline Bi ₅Ti ₃FeO ₁₅ layered perovskite under visible light

Nanocrystalline Bi ₅Ti ₃FeO ₁₅ layered perovskite exhibiting Aurivillius phase was synthesized by polymerized complex (PC) method and investigated for its physico-chemical as well as optical properties. The crystallization of Bi ₅Ti ₃FeO ₁₅ synthesized by PC method was found to occur in the temperature range of 800-1050 °C, whereas the single crystalline Bi ₅Ti ₃FeO ₁₅ formed at 1030 °C by solid state reaction (SSR) method. The observation of highly pure phase and such lower crystallization temperature in Bi ₅Ti ₃FeO ₁₅ prepared by PC method, is in total contrast to that observed in Bi ₅Ti ₃FeO ₁₅ prepared by the conventional solid-state reaction (SSR) method. The band gap of nanocrystalline Bi ₅Ti ₃FeO ₁₅ determined from UV-Vis diffusion reflectance spectrometer was 2.38 eV (525 nm). The photocatalytic activity of Pt/Bi ₅Ti ₃FeO ₁₅ prepared by PC method was investigated with the photodecomposition of isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and hydrogen production from water-methanol mixed solution under visible light (λ ≥ 420 nm). The respective activities for PC sample were higher than that of Pt/Bi ₅Ti ₃FeO ₁₅ prepared by SSR as well as Pt/TiO _2-xN _x.