Well‐Dispersed Fe₂O₃ Nanoparticles on g‐C₃N₄ for Efficient and Stable Photo‐Fenton Photocatalysis under Visible‐Light Irradiation

Abstract

In this study, a highly efficient heterogeneous photo‐Fenton system (Fe2O3/g‐C3N4/H2O2/visible light) has been developed. The heterogeneous catalyst Fe2O3/g‐C3N4 in this system was successfully prepared by growing Fe2O3 nanoparticles on the surface of g‐C3N4. The Fe2O3 nanoparticles could achieve high dispersion on the surface of g‐C3N4 and form a heterojunction with g‐C3N4 to improve the charge separation. In addition, the combination of the Fenton's reagent Fe2O3/H2O2 and the photocatalyst g‐C3N4 greatly enhances the rate of the Fenton's reaction with the assistance of the photocatalytic process. The results showed that the Fe2O3/g‐C3N4 catalyst had a superior catalytic activity as compared with the single component of Fe2O3 or g‐C3N4 and the mechanical mixture of Fe2O3 and g‐C3N4. The catalyst prepared with 3 mL of FeCl3 aqueous solution shows the best photo‐Fenton photocatalytic efficiency with a reaction rate constant of 0.02461 mg L–1 min–1, which is about 45.4, 8.4 and 7.2 times larger than that of pure Fe2O3 (0.0005418 mg L–1 min–1), pure g‐C3N4 (0.00294 mg L–1 min–1) and the mechanically mixed Fe2O3/g‐C3N4 (0.0034 mg L–1 min–1), respectively. A possible mechanism for the visible‐light‐irradiated photo‐Fenton photocatalysis is proposed, and the Fe2O3/g‐C3N4 catalyst exhibited stable performance without obvious loss of catalytic activity after four successive runs, showing a good application prospect for the photo‐oxidative degradation of organic contaminants in wastewater.

α−Fe2O3 Nanoparticles/Porous g−C3N4 Hybrids Synthesized by Calcinations of Fe‐based MOF/Melamine Mixtures for Boosting Visible‐Light Photocatalytic Tetracycline Degradation

“…The peaks in bottom line at 24.1°, 33.1°, 35.7°, 40.9°, 49.5°, 54.1°, 62.5° and 64.0° can be assigned to (012), (104), (110), (113), (024), (116), (214) and (300) lattice planes of α−Fe 2 O 3 (JCPDF No. 33‐0664), indicating that the MIL‐101 (Fe) has been oxidized to α−Fe 2 O 3 with high purity during calcination process . The uppermost line displays two typical peaks at 12.9° and 27.6° related to (100) and (002) lattice planes of g−C 3 N 4 , meaning that the calcination product of melamine is g−C 3 N 4 .…”

“…Nevertheless, the short lifetime of photo‐generated charge carriers and small hole diffusion length greatly hinder the widespread application of α−Fe 2 O 3 in photocatalysis . In the past several years, the coupling of g−C 3 N 4 with α−Fe 2 O 3 has been an effective route to enhance themselves′ visible‐light photocatalytic activity in various fields such as pollutant degradation, hydrogen production, CO 2 reduction, organic synthesis, and nitrogen fixation . Due to the appropriate band positions of α−Fe 2 O 3 and g−C 3 N 4 , the strong interfacial coupling of α−Fe 2 O 3 /g−C 3 N 4 hybrids largely promoted the transfer and separation of photoinduced charge carriers by common or even Z‐scheme modes, directly accounting for their high photocatalytic efficiency.…”

Facile Production of a Fenton-Like Photocatalyst by Two-Step Calcination with a Broad pH Adaptability

“…Advanced oxidation process such as the Fenton reaction and photocatalysis has been extensively studied due to their high degradation activity toward the refractory organic pollutants in recent years [1]. The Fenton reaction has been proven to mineralize most of the organic pollutants [2].…”

A binary polymer composite of graphitic carbon nitride and poly(diphenylbutadiyne) with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity

“…However, the g-C 3 N 4 has many weak points such as the small surface area, high recombination rate of photogenerated electron-hole pairs and low visible light utilization efficiency. 15 Hence, various methods have been used to solve these problems, for example, synthesizing different structures, 16,17 doping with metal or nonmetal elements, [18][19][20][21] coupling with other semiconductors, [22][23][24][25][26] and modifying by conjugated polymers. 27,28 Among these methods, the conjugated polymer modication has attracted many attentions because the conjugated polymer not only can enhance the absorption of the visible light but also can act as a semiconductor.…”

“…Yan et al synthesized carbon nitride-poly(3-hexylthiophene) (g-C 3 N 4 -P 3 HT) composite photocatalyst. 24 They found that the novel photocatalyst exhibited signicantly enhanced photocatalytic activity. Thakare et al reported on the synthesis of a ternary polymer composite of graphene, carbon nitride, and poly(3-hexylthiophene) (G-g-C 3 N 4 -P 3 HT) which had enhanced photocatalytic activity.…”