abstract

• This paper is focused to study Sm 2FeTaO 7 pyrochlore-type compound as solar photocatalyst for the degradation of indigo carmine dye in aqueous solution. Sm 2FeTaO 7 was synthesized by using conventional solid state reaction and sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction results indicated that Sm 2FeTaO 7 exhibit a monoclinic crystal structure. By scanning electron microscopy analysis, it was observed that sol-gel material presents particle size of around 150nm. The specific surface area and energy bandgap values were 12m 2g -1 and 2.0eV, respectively. The photocatalytic results showed that indigo carmine molecule can be degraded under solar light irradiation using the synthesized materials, sol-gel photocatalyst was 8 times more active than solid state. On the other hand, when Sm 2FeTaO 7 was impregnated with CuO as cocatalyst the photocatalytic activity was increased because CuO acts as electron trap decreasing electron-hole pair recombination rates. Copyright © 2012 Leticia M. Torres-Martnez et al.

authors

• Figueroa-Torres M.Z.
• Juárez-Ramírez I.
• Moctezuma Velázquez Edgar
• Ruiz-Gómez M.A.
• Torres-Martínez L.

publication date

• 2012-01-01

published in

• International Journal of Photoenergy  Journal

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1155/2012/939608

start page

end page

volume

• 2012