Synthesis of BiF3 and BiF3-Added Plaster of Paris Composites for Photocatalytic Applications

Abstract

A BiF3 powder sample was prepared from the purchased Bi2O3 powder via the precipitation route. The photocatalytic performance of the prepared BiF3 powder was compared with the Bi2O3 powder and recognized as superior. The prepared BiF3 powder sample was added in a plaster of Paris (POP) matrix in the proportion of 0%, 1%, 5%, and 10% by wt% to form POP–BiF3(0%), POP–BiF3(1%), POP–BiF3(5%), and POP–BiF3(10%) composite pellets, respectively, and activated the photocatalytic property under the UV–light irradiation,in the POP. In this work, Resazurin (Rz) ink was utilized as an indicator to examine the photocatalytic activity and self-cleaning performance of POP–BiF3(0%), POP–BiF3(1%), POP–BiF3(5%), and POP–BiF3(10%) composite pellets. In addition to the digital photographic method, the UV–visible absorption technique was adopted to quantify the rate of the de-colorization of the Rz ink, which is a direct measure of comparative photocatalytic performance of samples.