Abstract
The Fe2O3/TiO2 nanocomposite was synthesized on FTO subtract via hydrothermal method. The crystal structure, morphology, band structure of the heterojunction, behaviors of charge carriers and the redox ability were characterized by XRD, HR-TEM, absorption spectra, PL, cyclic voltammetry and transient photocurrent spectra. The as-prepared Fe2O3/TiO2 photocatalysts with distinctive structure and great stability was characterized and investigated for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye in aqueous solution. The ability of the photocatalyst for generating reactive oxygen species, including O2− and.OH was investigated. It was revealed that the combination of the two oxides (Fe2O3 and TiO2) nano-heterojunction could enhance the visible response and separate photogenerated charge carriers effectively. Therefore, the remarkable photocatalytic activity of Fe2O3/TiO2 nanostructures for MB degradation was ascribed to the enhanced visible light absorption and efficient interfacial transfer of photogenerated electrons from to Fe2O3 to TiO2 due to the lower energy gap level of Fe2O3/TiO2 hybrid heterojunctions as evidenced by the UV–Vis and photoluminescence studies. The decrease of the energy gap level of Fe2O3/TiO2 resulted in the inhibition of electron–hole pair recombination for effective spatial charge separation, thus enhancing the photocatalytic reactions. Based on the obtained results, a possible mechanism for the improved photocatalytic performance associated with Fe2O3/TiO2 was proposed. The Fe2O3/TiO2 nanocomposite has a specific capacity of 82 F.g−1 and shows a higher capacitance than Fe2O3.
Highlights
There are two defects limiting the use of TiO2 in the photocatalysis: one, its wide band gap energy that limits its response to visible light and the other is the rapid recombination of photogenerated electron–hole which leads to the decrease of its photocatalytic activity
The obtained results confirm that TiO2 alone is unable to absorb under visible irradiation. This could be attributed to the scaling down of the distance between the valence band (VB) and the conduction band (CB) after the addition of Fe2O3 which boosts the transfer of electrons between bands after excitation
The photocatalytic activity of the Fe2O3/TiO2 nanocomposite was evaluated using the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under sunlight irradiation for pollution prevention
Summary
The environmental impact caused by the discharge of untreated wastewaters, or even partially treated in sewage stations, is an increasingly worrying problem, considering the damage caused to the environment [1]. Electrocatalysis has been made to develop new technologies aiming the treatment of persistent substances in the environment such as heterogeneous photocatalysis, electrochemical techniques and photoelectrochemical processes [2–6]. Among these processes, the heterogeneous photocatalysis that belongs to the class of the advanced oxidation processes has proved very effective as it mineralizes the contaminations existing liquid phases. Over the last few decades, research in the photocatalysis area has been focusing on improving electrochemical and photocatalytic materials [7–10] Various photocatalysts such as titanium dioxide (TiO2) were used. Fe2O3/TiO2 nanocomposites revealed outstanding photocatalytic activity under visible light and were used as photocatalysts in the degradation of oxytetracycline [15–18]. We have synthesized by a hydrothermal approach a TiO2/F2O3 heterojunction photocatalyst that exhibited excellent performance in many fields
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