Enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity of porous LaMnO 3 sub-micron particles in the degradation of rose bengal

Abstract A perovskite LaMnO 3 micro/nanostructure is a promising high-efficiency photocatalytic materials for the removal of various organic pollutants. This study presents the preparation of sub-micron LaMnO 3 particles with polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as a structure directing agent to control the primary morphology and aggregations. Furthermore, the sample was annealed at different temperatures to improve the crystallinity and perovskite phase formations. The possible formation mechanism was explained based on the annealing temperatures. An attempt has been made to study the effect of different morphologies of LaMnO 3 particles for the degradation of RB dye under visible light irradiation. The removal efficiency of 95% for RB dye in 60 min evidences the superior degradation capability of highly porous LaMnO 3 particles. The photocatalytic activity not only depends on porous structure, but also strongly based on crystallinity, and specific surface area of LaMnO 3 particles. Hence, the porous morphology displays a superior photocatalytic activity than other LaMnO 3 microstructures.