Rapid Thermal Processing and Improved Photocatalysis of Bi2O3-BaTiO3 Heterojunction

Abstract

Bi₂O₃-BaTiO₃ heterojunction with high photocatalysis efficiency was directly synthesized by rapid thermal processing (RTP). Bi₂O₃ and BaTiO₃ were mixed in ratio and treated by RTP and conventional thermal processing (CTP), respectively. RTP samples have obvious Bi₂O₃ diffraction peaks, while CTP samples show pure BaTiO₃ tetragonal perovskite. More small particles and layered existed in RTP samples. Photodegradation of MB solutions shows that RTP can promote photocatalytic efficiency. Its main lies in the following points: RTP can remove grain boundary defects by strengthening the bond grains; RTP can limit the solution region of the two substances to a certain range to get the best built-in electric field width; and RTP can strengthen the tetragonal BaTiO₃ phase to hasten ion movement. Therefore, RTP can achieve much higher photocatalytic efficiency by improving the build heterojunction. This work provides a direct and efficient route to get improvement and high performance of heterojunction.