Synthesis and characterization of hierarchical porous α -FeOOH for the adsorption and photodegradation of Rhodamine b

Abstract

Hierarchical porous α-FeOOH nanoparticles were controlled and prepared via a facile polystyrene (PS) microspheres-templated method. The α-Fe2O3 was obtained by the calcination of the as-prepared α-FeOOH. The resulting nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and N2-sorption techniques. The adsorption and photodegradation of Rhodamine B performance were evaluated under UV light at room temperature. The results indicated that the photocatalytic activity of the α-FeOOH nanoparticles is superior to α-Fe2O3-200 and α-Fe2O 3-300 due to the hierarchically multiporous structure and high surface area. This convenient and low-cost process provides a rational synthesis alternative for the preparation of multiporous materials and the as-synthesis products have great foreground applications in many aspects. © 2014 Jianliang Cao et al.