Multiferroic materials have received a lot of attention in recent years because of their various applications in spintronics, sensors, and novel magneto-electric devices. They have ferroic properties like ferroelasticity, ferroelectricity, and antiferro/ferromagnetism, but they are also coupled with electric, magnetic, and structural order parameters. This material necessitates the use of vacant and/or partially filled transition metal like d-orbitals, which exhibit distinctive features [1–7]. The catalytic oxidation of alcohols to carbonyl molecules is one of the most prevalent forms of oxidation reactions in organic chemistry. In the production of fine molecules and intermediates, selective catalytic oxidation is crucial. From both synthetic and industrial standpoint, liquid-phase catalytic oxidation of alcohols might be a highly appealing process for the production of intermediates and fine compounds. The catalytic conversion of primary alcohols to aldehydes is an important laboratory and industrial process [8, 9]. Furthermore, contemporary scientific study has focused on innovative visible light photo catalysts based on semiconductors in order to fulfill escalating environmental pollution and energy requirements through efficient solar energy usage. Photo-catalysis based on semiconductors has attracted a lot of interest because of its potential applications in solar energy consumption and environmental cleanup [10, 11].
The general chemical formula for perovskites is ABO3 or A2BO4. In ABO3 (A cation of larger size than B) structure, where A-site trivalent cation is 12-fold coordinated, the B-site trivalent cation is 6-fold coordinated and O is an oxygen anion. In the realm of heterogeneous catalytic reactions, they are perhaps the most researched mixed-oxide system [12, 13]. Because of their low cost, thermo-chemical stability at relatively high temperatures, and catalytic and photocatalytic activity, these perovskite oxides appear to be a potential alternative to noble metal catalysts [14]. Although these perovskite oxides are the most common and fascinating compounds, it also crystallizes in carbides, nitrides, halides, and hydrides [15]. Due to their distinctive crystal structures as well as physical and chemical characteristics, perovskite materials have attracted a lot of attention for their potential uses in solar cells, fuel cells, electro-catalysis, energy storage, catalysis, photocatalysis and so on [16]. The perovskite oxides has been studied as various catalysts such as oxidation of carbon monoxide (CO), decomposition of nitrogen oxide (NO) and NO + CO reduction and so on [17–20]. On the other hand, the perovskite oxides has been widely used for photo catalytic degradation such as organic pollutants/dyes, methyl orange, methylene blue and so on [10, 11 21]. Type 1: suprafacial, in which the catalyst surface provides a set of electronic orbitals with proper symmetry and energy for reactant and intermediate bonding; type 2: intrafacial, in which the catalyst acts as a reagent that is partially consumed and regenerated in a series of continuous redox cycles [17].
BiFeO3 perovskite nanoparticles are characterized as combinations of two or more constituent minerals or phases and are well-known for their excellent thermal stability, high strength, chemical resistance, and increased catalytic characteristics [9]. Despite the abundance of nanoparticles accessible, the combination of perovskite-based metal oxide is rare in the literature. Bismuth-based perovskite nanoparticles may be produced using a variety of physical and chemical methods, including sol-gel [8], solid-state reaction [22], sonochemical approach [1], and hydrothermal method [23]. Sensors, catalytic activities, photocatalytic activities, and spintronics devices utilizes BiFeO3 perovskite-type oxides [11, 22].
Ramezanalizadeh et al. used a modified sol-gel approach to make BiFeO3 perovskite oxide. The gel was formed using 2-methoxyethanol and acetic acid, and then baked at 80 oC for 12 hours before being annealed at 600 oC for 30 minutes in air or N2. The oxidation of primary and secondary alcohols was achieved using this perovskite oxide [8]. On the other hand, Li et al. have prepared BiFeO3 perovskite by employing microwave-assisted hydrothermal using polyethylene glycol (PEG 6000, 4000, and 2000) as a precipitate agent then subjected to microwave irradiation at 190 ºC for 30 min followed by vacuum drying oven at 60 ºC for 12 h. These perovskite oxides have been used for the degradation of RhB [24]. However, there are few reports on the manufacture of BiFeO3 utilizing a microwave aided combustion approach. The current work focuses on the microwave aided combustion technique for the synthesis of BiFeO3 perovskite oxides, as well as the influence of microwave irradiation on the formation of a secondary perovskite phase (-Bi2O3). Microwave-assisted combustion provides several advantages over traditional heating techniques, including a faster synthesis time, lower energy usage, and the ability to fabricate materials with particular catalytic and photocatalytic characteristics. As a result, microwave-assisted methods for the production of inorganic materials are widely employed [24]. We produced BiFeO3 perovskite nanoparticles and evaluated them using different methods such as XRD, DRS, FTIR, HRSEM, EDX, VSM, and BET to determine structural, optical, morphological, magnetic, and textural characteristics. The as-fabricated BiFeO3 perovskite nanoparticles are reported for the first time by our group, and its multi-functional abilities towards the oxidation of glycerol and photocatalytic degradation of RhB are described in the subsequent sections.