Synthesis of mesoporous magnetic Fe2O3/g-C3N4 monoliths for Rhodamine B removal

Abstract

Advanced and effective materials are required to be synthesized for toxic pollutants removal. Present work describes the synthesis of magnetic Fe2O3 and Fe2O3/g-C3N4 monoliths prepared by implementing the nanocasting and vacuum impregnation methods, respectively. The as-prepared monoliths were characterized using different techniques to examine the textural properties and surface functionalities. The magnetic potentiality of the monoliths was examined by VSM (vibrating sample magnetometer) analysis. Due to the easy to separate nature, the monoliths have great significance in the wastewater treatment applications. The toxic dye i.e. Rhodamine B (RhB) has been photocatalytically removed from the aqueous medium by using the synthesized monoliths. The degradation efficiency for Fe2O3/g-C3N4 monolith was 94.7% in 140 min time at pH ~7 under visible light. The influence of the parameters such as pH and catalyst loading was examined which exposed that the highest catalytic activity obtained at pH 9 (98.2%) with a catalyst loading of 0.3 g L−1 (97.4%). This was attributed to the fact that the monoliths exhibited the porous nature along with the efficient charge separation efficiency and hence increases its catalytic activity. Furthermore, the monolithic catalysts exhibited excellent reusability and stability over several runs of degradation processes.