Enhanced photocatalytic activity of Bi2Fe4O9 catalysts with EDTA modification

The degradation of methylene orange (MO) dye was carried out by using sol-gel derived Bi2Fe4O9 nanoparticles under the visible light irradiation with the addition of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The photocatalytic reaction can be termed a kind of photo-Fenton-like process, in which EDTA, H2O2 and visible light irradiation work together to improve the degradation rate of Bi2Fe4O9 catalysts. In the process of photocatalytic reaction, only 50 and 84 % MO removal could be achieved without the addition of EDTA; however, the MO removal could achieve about 74 and 99 % with 0.4 mmol/L of EDTA for irradiation time of 0.5 and 2 h, respectively. The variation of the FT-IR spectra evidences the surface modification effects of EDTA on Bi2Fe4O9 crystallites. [GRAPHICS] .