Effect of Na/Co co-substituted on Structural, Magnetic, Optical and Photocatalytic Properties of BiFeO3 Nanoparticles

Abstract The effect of Na and Co co-substitution is explored on structural, magnetic and photocatalytic properties of Bi1-xNaxFe1-xCoxO3 (x = 0.00-0.08) nanoparticles, synthesized via the tartaric acid based wet chemical sol–gel technique. X-ray diffraction along with the electron microscopy techniques disclosed the pure phase and nanocrystalline nature of Bi1-xNaxFe1-xCoxO3 samples. The ferromagnetic ordering parameters increase with increasing Na-Co content in BiFeO3 nanoparticles and the highest magnetization 2.84 emu/g at 30 kOe is observed for x=0.08 sample which is also endorsed by the ESR analysis. The Raman study supported the magnetic properties of Bi1-xNaxFe1-xCoxO3 nanoparticles. XPS measurements of the Bi1-xNaxFe1-xCoxO3 nanoparticles showed the Fe3+ dominancy and increase in oxygen vacancies with Na-Co content. The energy band-gap of BiFeO3 nanoparticles can be altered by aliovalent ions Na-Co substitution from 2.2 eV to 1.97 eV. The co-doping has improved the photodegradation efficiency and kinetic degradation rates of methylene blue and crystal violet under UV light irradiation.