Improvement of BiFeO3nanopowder as a catalyst by Sm-Eu and Sm-Cd co-doped on its structure for acetylation of benzyl alcohol

BiFeO3(BFO), Bi0.86Sm0.07Eu0.07FeO3 (BSEFO), and Bi0.86Sm0.07Cd0.07FeO3 (BSCFO) nanopowders were prepared by the sol-gel combustion method and their catalytic performance were evaluated in acetylation ofbenzyl alcohol. The physical chemical properties of catalysts were characterized by using XRD, FT-IR,scanning electron microscope (SEM), EDX and BET surface. was carried out over all the Efficient acetylation of benzyl alcohol nanopowders using acetyl chloride/acetonitrile at room temperature. Among the nanopowders, BSCFO showed the highest catalytic performance which lead to 89 percent of benzyl acetateformation, whereas the yield of benzyl acetate over BFO and BSEFO was 45 and 69 percent, respectively. Itwas found that partial substitution of Sm-Eu and Sm-Cd in bismuth ferrite improved the catalytic performanceand increased the specific surface area of the catalysts. A direct relationship was resulted catalytic performanceand surface of the catalysts, in that BSCFO with the highest surface area (111m2/g) exhibited the highest catalytic performance. The catalysts showed good reusability in the process. This study confirmed that the catalysts could be promising catalyst for acetylation of alcohols

Keywords:

Bismuth ferrite , Nano perovskite , Sol-gel combustion , Acetylation