Abstract
α-Mn2O3 microspheres with high phase purity, crystallinity, and surface area were synthesized by the thermal decomposition of precipitated MnCO3 microspheres without the use of any structure directing agents and tedious reaction conditions. The prepared Mn2O3 microspheres were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and photoluminescence (PL) studies. The complete thermal transformation of MnCO3 to Mn2O3 was clearly shown by the FTIR and XRD analysis. The electron microscopic images clearly confirmed the microsphere-like morphology of the products with some structural deformation for the calcined Mn2O3 sample. The mesoporous texture generated from the interaggregation of subnanoparticles in the microstructures is visibly evident from the TEM and BET studies. Moreover, the Mn2O3 microstructures showed a moderate photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methylene blue dye pollutant under UV light irradiation, using air as the potential oxidizing agent.
Highlights
The semiconductor based photocatalysis is a promising technique for the abatement of environmental pollutants, especially for the waste water treatment
The removal efficiency was calculated by the function of ((A0 − At)/A0) × 100%, where A0 is the initial absorbance of methylene blue (MB) and At is the absorbance left after the reaction, at the time “t.”
Α-Mn2O3 microspheres were successfully synthesized by the thermal decomposition of precipitated MnCO3 microspheres
Summary
The semiconductor based photocatalysis is a promising technique for the abatement of environmental pollutants, especially for the waste water treatment It has received a significant attention due to its advantages over the traditional methods, especially for the rapid oxidation of pollutants without any polycyclic product formation [1]. Among the various crystalline phases of manganese oxides, such as MnO, MnO2, Mn2O3, and Mn3O4, the manganese sesquioxide, Mn2O3, is of potential interest [3] It has found promising application in rechargeable batteries, magnetic sensors, super capacitors, and so on [4,5,6,7]. Numerous methods have been developed for the synthesis of phase pure Mn2O3 crystals with various attractive morphologies such as wires, rods, spheres, cubes, and hollow and octahedral structures and high porosity [8, 9]. Powder was studied using methylene blue degradation under UV light irradiation using air as the potential oxidizing agent
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