UV Light-Driven Photocatalytic Activity in Ferroelectric SrBi4Ti4O15 and Influence of Metal Modification.

The bismuth-layered ferroelectric (BLF) oxides are promising photocatalysts due to their wide band gap, photo-coupled ferro properties, Pb-Free composition, and excellent chemical stability. In this study, polycrystalline SrBi 4 Ti 4 O 15 (SBT) is used as the target photocatalyst, and its photocatalytic performance was evaluated in terms of Rhodamine-B dye degradation under UV light. Moreover, the influence of metal deposition (Ag, Zn, Fe, and Bi) was also explored. The powders of SBT and its metal-decorated derivatives were synthesized and structural, compositional, and optical properties were studied in detail using XRD, XPS, EDS, FTIR, UV–Vis, Raman, and PL spectroscopy. The pristine SBT powders showed 19% photodegradation after 60 min of exposure to UV radiation. Metal nanoparticles deposited on the surface of the SBT were found to improve photocatalytic capacity and a nearly threefold increase (53%) in degradation rate was achieved for Bi-decorated SBT. The rate constant and the turnover frequency are 0.01336 min - 1 and 13.2 × 10 - 3 mol Rh - B mol metal h - 1 , respectively. The degradation was observed to follow a Langmuir–Hinshelwood (LH) model, indicating that the process is first order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]