Photoluminescence Properties and Antibacterial Activity of BiFeO3 and BiFeO3-CoFe2O4 Composite

In this work, BiFeO3 and BiFeO3-CoFe2O4 bioceramic compounds were investigated and their photoluminescence (PL) characteristics and antimicrobial activity were compared in detail. The crystallite size, crystalline strain, and optical band gap of the compounds were estimated using the Williamson-Hall (W-H) plot, which was derived from powder x-ray diffraction patterns. The W-H plot revealed that the crystallite size increased and the crystalline strain value decreased for the BiFeO3-CoFe2O4 when compared to pure BiFeO3. The formation of a binary phase structure was confirmed by the Raman spectrum of the synthesized composite material. In the PL analysis, weak PL visible emission bands were observed for both the pure and composite samples, indicating that fewer oxygen vacancy defects occurred. The antimicrobial activity of pure BiFeO3 and BiFeO3-CoFe2O4 was investigated in detail, and the results are discussed.