Optimizing photocatalytic performance of hydrothermally synthesized LaFeO3 by tuning material properties and operating conditions

Structural, morphological and optical properties of LaFeO3 (LFO), which was synthesized by a facile hydrothermal reaction, were varied by tailoring the selection of iron precursor, synthetic solution pH and calcination temperature. The sample of LFO-N800, which was prepared using iron nitrate in the synthetic solution at pH 9, followed by 800 °C calcination, showed good crystallinity, small particle size, large surface area, low band gap energy, and subsequently high visible-light-excited photo-Fenton-like catalytic performance. The effects of catalyst loading, initial solution pH and initial H2O2 dosage on the photo-Fenton catalytic degradation of RhB using LFO-N800 were investigated and optimized. Under the initial conditions of pH = 5, 10 mg L−1 RhB, 0.2 g L−1 H2O2, and 0.5 g L−1 catalyst, almost complete degradation of dye (over 99.5%) was seen in 90 min under visible light illumination. Moreover, our results proved the stability and reusability of LFO-N800; and revealed its photo-Fenton catalytic mechanism for degradation of RhB.