Facile Synthesis, Characterization, and Photocatalytic Performance of BiOF/BiFeO3 Hybrid Heterojunction for Benzylamine Coupling under Simulated Light Irradiation

Under simulated light irradiation, the aerobic oxidation of benzylamine to N,N-benzylidenebenzylamine was carried out as a model reaction to investigate the photocatalytic activity of a hydrothermally prepared composite based on BiOF and BiFeO3 materials. The prepared photocatalysts were characterized using several spectroscopic techniques, such as powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Band gap analysis showed that the composite exhibits a band gap that lies in the UV region (3.5 eV). Nonetheless, pristine BiOF and BiFeO3 exhibited band gaps of 3.8 eV and 2.15 eV, respectively. N,N-benzylidenebenzylamine was selectively achieved with a high conversion yield of ~80% under atmospheric conditions in which the product was confirmed using 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, and FTIR spectroscopic techniques. Various control experiments were conducted to further confirm the enhanced photocatalytic performance of the reported composite.