Synthesis and Characterization of Fe Doped Aurivillius-Phase PbBi2Nb2O9 Perovskite and Their Photocatalytic Activity on the Degradation of Methylene Blue

A simple solid-state reaction was applied to synthesize Fe-doped perovskite-type PBFNO catalysts, and methylene blue decomposition studies were performed in the form of visible light according to the changes in the Fe doping content (0.4 to 1.9 mol ratio compared with Bi mol) and the amount of catalyst used (0.05 to 0.2 g used). As the Fe doping content increases, the absorbance and bang gap energy of the PBFNOs sample rapidly increase and decrease, respectively, because the Fe dopant in the PBNO lattice acts as an intermediate band between the valence and conduction bands of the PBNO and reduces the band gap energy. As a result, it showed a performance degradation of approximately 42% compared to the maximum performance. In addition, the presence of Fe dopants in the PBNO lattice greatly reduces the intensity of the photoluminescent lines. This is because the Fe dopant can play an important role in light-induced electron transfer and as a hole trap, reducing the recombination rate. Additionally, when too much photocatalyst was used (>0.1 g used), the Fe dopant played an important role as a light-induced electron transfer and hole trap, reducing the recombination rate and lowering the overall photocatalytic activity by 51%. In particular, 0.1 g of PBNO-0.2-F showed continuous catalytic activity, even when the photocatalytic reaction proceeded for 180 min. Therefore, this study demonstrates that the Fe-doped aurivillius-phase PBFNO photocatalyst is very promising for the dye manufacturing industry.