Carbon-modified bismuth titanate with an enhanced photocatalytic activity under nature sunlight

A novel carbon-modified bismuth titanate Bi4Ti3O12 (C/BTO) nanocomposites were successfully synthesized by a facile co-precipitation method. The resulted samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS), N2 adsorption–desorption and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–vis DRS). The photocatalytic activities of the samples were measured through the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO) aqueous solution under sunlight. Compared with commercial P25, the resulted C/BTO showed an excellent photocatalytic activity. The mechanism for the improved photocatalytic activity was finally proposed.