Synthesis and characterization of aurivillius phase Bi5Ti3FeO15 layered perovskite for visible light photocatalysis

An aurivillius phase Layered perovskite Bi5FeTi3O15 system was synthesized for first time by the solid-state reaction method yielding a single phase Bi5FeTi3O15 at only 1030°C. The electronic band structure and optical properties as well as the crystallization behavior of the materials were studied by using UV-DRS and XRD. The as-prepared particles those were the agglomerates of 25 nm crystals, exhibited the band gap of 2.38 eV (525 nm). Their visible light (λ ≥ 420 nm) photocatalytic activity as studied by the photo-decomposition of isopropyl alcohol (IPA) was found to be much higher than that of well-known TiO2-xNx photocatalyst.