Synthesis, structure, and visible-light-driven activity of o-YbFeO3/h-YbFeO3/CeO2 photocatalysts

Photo-Fenton-like oxidation of organic substances is one of the key advanced oxidation processes based on the reversible Fe2+↔Fe3+ transition and the generation of a strong oxidant ·OH in the presence of H2O2 and is currently considered as a promising method for the purification of polluted aqueous media. However, the absence of effective and stable photocatalysts of this process, operating under the action of visible light, necessitates the exploratory studies, mainly among iron oxides and ferrites of various compositions and structures. In this work, using the method of solution combustion followed by heat treatment in air the heterojunction nanocomposites based on ytterbium orthoferrite and cerium dioxide of the composition o-YbFeO3/h-YbFeO3/CeO2 (0–20 mol.%) with high absorption in the visible region and advanced photo-Fenton-like activity were obtained. The nanocomposites were studied by EDS, SEM, XRD, BET, and DRS methods. The photo-Fenton-like activity of the nanocomposites was investigated during the degradation of methyl violet under the action of visible (λmax = 410 nm) radiation. As a result, the formation of I-type heterojunction based on stable rhombic (55.4–79.0 nm) and metastable hexagonal (19.5–24.0 nm) modifications of ytterbium orthoferrite (o-YbFeO3 and h-YbFeO3, respectively) and cubic cerium dioxide CeO2 (13.2–19.2 nm) nanocrystals was established. It was shown that the obtained nanocomposites had foamy morphology and were characterized by a specific surface in the range of 9.1–25.0 m2/g, depending on the CeO2 content. It was found that nanocrystalline components were chemically and phase-pure, uniformly spatially distributed over the nanocomposite, and had multiple contacts with each other. Based on this fact and the established electronic structure of the nanocomposite components, the formation of I-type heterojunction with the participation of o-YbFeO3 (Eg = 2.15 eV), h-YbFeO3 (Eg = 2.08 eV), and CeO2 (Eg = 2.38 eV) was shown, the presence of which increased photocatalytic activity of the resulting nanocomposite. The optimal content of CeO2 in the nanocomposite was 5%, and the o-YbFeO3/h-YbFeO3/CeO2–5% sample was characterized by the highest rate constant of photo-Fenton-like degradation of methyl violet under the action of visible light equal to k = 0.138 min–1, which was 2.5 to 5 times higher than for nanocomposites based on ytterbium orthoferrite. The obtained results obtained indicate that the developed nanocomposites can be considered as a promising basis for the advanced oxidation processes for the purification of aqueous media from organic pollutants.