Abstracts Book - IMRC 2018

• SF5-O005
SYNTHESIS AND SOLAR-LIGHT PHOTOCATALYTIC EVALUATION
OF Bi 1-x Gd x FeO 3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.15) NANOSTRUCTURED
SEMICONDUCTORS (0D AND 1D SYSTEMS) FOR THE
DEGRADATION OF ORGANIC DYE IN DILUTED AQUEOUS MEDIA.
Daniela Arango Vasquez 1 , Carlos Ostos 1 , Lina Marcela Castro 2
1 Universidad de Antioquía, Medellin Colombia, Colombia. 2 Universidad de Antioquía, Medellin,
Colombia.
The organic dyes product of textiles, paper, cosmetic and pharmaceutical
industries are one of the main contributors to contamination of rivers and seas.
This represents a risk for life and environment because they are carcinogenic,
mutagenic, between others. Photocatalytic mineralization of organic dyes in
diluted aqueous media by means of nanostructured bismuth ferrate (BiFeO 3 )
acting as semiconductor catalyst has shown to be a promising alternative to
overcome this situation. Moreover, the replacement of Gd 3+ ions onto the Bi 3+
sites, seems to optimize some crucial physical, optical and electronic properties
of this semiconductor improving its efficiency for the degradation of these
organic compounds in aqueous media. Hence, in this work, we have evaluated
the photocatalytic performance of Gd-substituted BiFeO 3 nanostructures (Gd-
BFO) by variating the content of Gd(0%, 5%, 10% and 15%). Likewise, we have
studied the effect of the Gd-BFO dimensionality comparing the efficiency of 0D
(nanoparticles) and 1D systems (nanotubes). The synthesis of Bi 1-x Gd x FeO 3 0D
systems was done via sol-gel route mixing the precursors bismuth nitrate,
Bi(NO 3 ) 3·5H 2 O, and iron nitrate, Fe(NO 3 ) 3·9H 2 O in 2-methoxyethanol and adding
ethylene glycol, citric acid and Gd 2 O 3 dissolved in nitric acid. The dimensional
parameters of 1D systems were guided using a template with a regular assembly
of commercial anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes that were
immersed into precursor solution. Both systems were calcined at 500 ºC and
700ºC respectively. The materials were characterized by SEM, TEM, BET and XRD.
The photocatalytic activity was evaluated through degradation of rhodamine B
dye exposed to a simulated solar radiation using a xenon lamp of 100W. The
results showed that 1D structures supported in commercial AAO with 15%
substitution of Gd had the highest performance in comparison with the
evaluated 0D systems.