Surfactant Influence on Morphology, Optical, Photocatalysis and Magnetic Performance of KBiFe2O5 Nanomaterials Obtained via Sol-Gel Method

In this investigation, an assessment results of structural, optical, conducting behaviour, magnetic and photocatalysis properties of KBiFe2O5 (KBFO) nanomaterials obtained from with surfactant (abbreviated as KBFO-S) and without surfactant (abbreviated as KBFO-N). Polyvinylpyrroliione (PVP) used as a polymeric surfactant, and it play a dominant role to enhance of magnetic and photocatalytic performance. X-ray diffraction (XRD) reveals formation single phase monoclinic crystal structure of both prepared KBFO nanomaterials. Fe-O-Fe and Bi-O-Fe lattice vibrations were conformed through Raman analysis. The KBFO sample obtained from without surfactant shows highly agglomerated and unevenly shaped particles with larger grain sizes, but with surfactant shows less agglomerated with sheet like morphology was observed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM). High concentration of Fe3+ with reduced oxygen vacancies was observed in case of KBFO-S sample through X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies. The improved (~3.8 times) surface area of KBFO-S when compared to that of KBFO-N was observed through Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area studies. KBFO-S sample exhibited two times higher magnetization value and two times high rate constant values than that of KBFO-N sample, which were observed through Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) and photocatalysis studies, respectively.