Visible light active, magnetically Fe3 O4 @SiO2 @TiO2-Fe2 O3 nanomaterial as photocatalyst for degraded phenol

Abstract

Magnetically and visible light active Fe3 O4 @SiO2 @TiO2-Fe2 O3 core-shell nanomaterial photocatalyst was successfully synthesized via the sol–gel anaerobic calcination approach. Transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffractometer, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (XRF) were used to characterize the nanomaterial. For the samples heated to 600°C, XRF patterns demonstrated the presence of Fe, Si, Ti and O elements in Fe3 O4 @SiO2 @TiO2-Fe2 O3 composite, whereas TEM micrographs indicated crystalline structures and diffraction patterns and FT-IR measurement revealed weak peaks of Fe3 O4 @SiO2 @TiO2-Fe2 O3 at 3,441 cm–1. When Fe2 O3 was adsorbed on TiO2, the band gap reduced and the iron oxide–TiO2 showed photocatalytic activity in visible light region. To test their photocatalytic ability for phenol degradation rate under different experimental conditions such as different phenol concentration, various pH of the solution and amount of applied photocatalyst. The degradation conditions were determined by single-factor analysis, the photocatalytic reaction time was 300 min, it was found that the degradation rate was 35.07%, the pH value was 7 and 12, the degradation rate was 33.54% and 41.51%, phenol concentration was 3 mg/L, the degradation rate was 30.9%. As the intensity of xenon light increased, the photocatalytic activity declined. Hence these mentioned conditions were chosen as the optimum experimental conditions.