Evaluation of the photocatalytic activity of iron oxide nanoparticles functionalized with titanium dioxide

Abstract

Photocatalytic activity of iron oxide (IO) nanoparticles functionalized with TiO2 was evaluated through photodegradation of phenol under UV irradiation. For this, magnetic nanoparticles were synthesized by co-precipitation method obtaining aggregates with a size of 46nm. The IO nanoparticles were encapsulated in a polysiloxane matrix and then functionalized with TiO2 at 25°C (sample A: 0.1g TiO2 and B: 0.3g TiO2). Photodegradation experiments were carried out for six hours at pH 3.0 using concentrations of IO-TiO2 nanoparticles of 0.2, 0.5, and 1.0g/L. A maximum amount of 89% of phenol photodegradation was achieved by using 0.2g/L of the IO-TiO2-B sample. In addition, it was evaluated the possibility to re-using the nanomaterial after magnetic separation. For this, 0.2g/L of B sample were submitted for five cycles of photodegradation. A stable photocatalytic activity was observed as well as the nanoparticles were regenerated by calcination among cycles, which suggests the versatility of these nanoparticles for the photodegradation of organic pollutants.