Photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes under visible light irradiation by floral-like LaFeO3nanostructures comprised of nanosheet petals

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Abstract
A facile and cost-effective surfactant assisted hydrothermal technique was used to prepare functional floral-like LaFeO3 nanostructures comprised of nanosheets via a self-assembly process. Scanning electron microscopy images revealed the floral structure of LaFeO3 comprising of nanosheet petals. The petals of ∼15 nm thickness and ∼70–80 nm length observed from transmission electron microscopy self-assembled to form floral structures. X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and thermal analysis techniques were utilized to determine the structural information and thermal stability. The structural characterization revealed the orthorhombic phase of the prepared LaFeO3 product with high purity even at a high temperature of 800 °C. The growth mechanism of LaFeO3 floral nanostructures has been proposed and the band gap energy was estimated to be 2.10 eV using UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller specific surface area was found to be 90.25 m2 g−1. The visible light photocatalytic activities of LaFeO3 floral nanostructures exhibited higher photocatalytic efficiency compared to the bulk LaFeO3 samples for the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) and methylene blue (MB). The degradation of MB was higher than RhB. The photocatalytic mechanism for the degradation of organic dye has also been proposed.

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