Preparation of room temperature ferromagnetic BiFeO3 and its application as an highly efficient magnetic separable adsorbent for removal of Rhodamine B from aqueous solution

In this work, room temperature ferromagnetic BiFeO3 ceramics has been prepared through complex-assisted sol-gel method by using tartaric acid as a complex and tested for the efficient adsorption removal of the model compound (Rhodamine B, RhB). The excellent adsorption property of RhB over as-prepared magnetic separable BiFeO3 ceramics has been proved by batch adsorption experiments. Further studies indicate the static-electric adsorption mechanism may play an important role in the adsorption process. This is a first study of its kind where magnetic separable BiFeO3 has been employed for efficient removal of RhB molecules from an aqueous solution. Crown Copyright (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.