TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of Average, Local, and Electronic Structure on Visible Light Photocatalysis in Novel BiREWO6 (RE = Eu and Tb) Nanomaterials
AU - Shanbogh, Pradeep P.
AU - Raghunathan, Rajamani
AU - Swain, Diptikanta
AU - Feygenson, Mikhail
AU - Neuefeind, Joerg
AU - Plaisier, Jasper
AU - Narayana, Chandrabhas
AU - Rao, Ashok
AU - Sundaram, Nalini G.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2018/10/24
Y1 - 2018/10/24
N2 - Crystal structures of hydrothermally synthesized BiEuWO6 and BiTbWO6 nanomaterials are deduced for the first time by combined Rietveld refinement of neutron and synchrotron data using the ordered and disordered models available in literature. The ordered model is validated for the average structure of these nanomaterials, and it is further supported by the local structure analysis using neutron pair distribution function. Nanomaterials are characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area, diffused reflectance spectroscopy, and Raman Spectroscopy. Rare-earth-substituted nanomaterials are found to be efficient photocatalysts over the parent Bi2WO6 under visible light irradiation for Congo-red dye degradation. Particularly, BiTbWO6 shows an enhanced photocatalytic (PC) activity compared to BiEuWO6, as evidenced from the photoelectrochemical and time-resolved fluorescence studies. The difference in the observed PC activity of these nanomaterials is also explored through a detailed comparison of crystal structure and electronic structure calculated through the density functional theory method.
AB - Crystal structures of hydrothermally synthesized BiEuWO6 and BiTbWO6 nanomaterials are deduced for the first time by combined Rietveld refinement of neutron and synchrotron data using the ordered and disordered models available in literature. The ordered model is validated for the average structure of these nanomaterials, and it is further supported by the local structure analysis using neutron pair distribution function. Nanomaterials are characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area, diffused reflectance spectroscopy, and Raman Spectroscopy. Rare-earth-substituted nanomaterials are found to be efficient photocatalysts over the parent Bi2WO6 under visible light irradiation for Congo-red dye degradation. Particularly, BiTbWO6 shows an enhanced photocatalytic (PC) activity compared to BiEuWO6, as evidenced from the photoelectrochemical and time-resolved fluorescence studies. The difference in the observed PC activity of these nanomaterials is also explored through a detailed comparison of crystal structure and electronic structure calculated through the density functional theory method.
KW - BiREWO
KW - DFT method
KW - Rietveld refinement
KW - photocatalyst
KW - total scattering
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85054970492&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsami.8b08452
DO - 10.1021/acsami.8b08452
M3 - Article
C2 - 30264556
AN - SCOPUS:85054970492
SN - 1944-8244
VL - 10
SP - 35875
EP - 35887
JO - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
JF - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
IS - 42
ER -