Synthesis and characterisation of TiO ₂ nanoparticles/Fe ₂ O ₃ waste chips composite

Abstract

Water contamination along with the environmental issues resulted by industrial wastewaters have caused a trend in applying semiconducting photocatalysts, among which TiO 2 composites have been particularly focused on to overcome the drawbacks of titanium(IV) oxide also known as titania. In the current investigation, waste chips of a structural steel bar with the chemical composition of Fe 2 O 3 were utilised to obtain the TiO 2-Fe 2 O 3 composite. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, diffusive reflectance spectra, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analyses were made to evaluate the composition and structure of the samples. Furthermore, the photocatalytic performance of the samples was studied by methyl orange (MeO) degradation. XRD spectra proved the presence of anatase and Fe 2 O 3 phases in the sample of 10%wt. Fe 2 O 3. The results indicate that as the Fe 2 O 3 content rises, the bandgap narrows. However, the specific surface area enlarges as this amount goes up to a certain limit (10%wt.), from which any further increase leads to a reduction in the specific surface area. The obtained results of MeO decolourisation presented the Fe 2 O 3 of 10%wt. and bandgap of 2.72 eV, and the specific surface area of 63 m 2 /g to be of the highest efficiency (96%).

Synthesis of TiO2/Fe2O3 Nanocomposites as Photocatalyst for Methyl Orange Degradation

“…However, the most commonly used organic pollutant is methylene blue, which is not suitable as a probe chemical for photocatalytic activity tests [25]. Several studies on the degradation of methyl orange employing TiO2/Fe2O3 composites revealed that the addition of Fe2O3 improves photocatalytic efficiency when exposed to UV light [26][27][28]. In this study, photodegradation of MO by TiO2/Fe2O3 composites was presented.…”

Small amount of TiO 2 modified SnO 2 with enhanced photocatalytic performance toward the removal of rhodamine B

“…Furthermore, it has demonstrated that the photocatalytic activity of SnO 2 is significantly improved when the metal oxide is coupled with either short or wide bandgap semiconductors [18]. It is well known that TiO 2 is the most commonly used semiconductor and with excellent photocatalytic performance [19]. Commonly, SnO 2 was selected to couple with TiO 2 to enhance its photocatalytic activity [20].…”