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- Title
Enhanced photocatalytic activity of α-Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>/g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub> composite materials for degradation of toluene in aqueous solution under visible light irradiation.
- Authors
Mamari, Said Al; Thangavel, Singaravadivel; Younghun Kim; Selvaraj, Rengaraj
- Abstract
The photocatalytic oxidation method can be used to effectively remove volatile organic compounds present in water and has the ability to degrade even at low concentrations. This study presents the analysis of photoexcited charge carriers with a proposed Z-scheme interface of the α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite for better photocatalytic degradation of toluene in aqueous solution. The α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 heterojunction synthesized by the solvothermal method by combining α-Fe2O3 microspheres constructed from several nanospheres with g-C3N4 nanosheets. The prepared samples were characterized by different techniques such as X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and photoluminescence in order to analyze their elemental composition and optical properties. The degradation of toluene as a volatile organic compound candidate is analyzed to determine the photocatalytic efficiency. It is observed that narrowing the band gap in the hetero-composite structure increases the charge carrier mobility and reduces the recombination rate. Furthermore, the electrons migrate from the conduction band of α-Fe2O3 to the valence band of g-C3N4 due to the shift in the interfacial interaction band position. The 60% α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite exhibits the highest photocatalytic activity among all samples and more than 90% degradation of toluene in water is achieved.
- Subjects
VISIBLE spectra; PHOTOCATALYSTS; CHARGE carrier mobility; COMPOSITE materials; AQUEOUS solutions; X-ray emission spectroscopy; CHEMICAL-looping combustion
- Publication
Desalination & Water Treatment, 2022, Vol 254, p94
- ISSN
1944-3994
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5004/dwt.2022.28350