Journal
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Volume 9, Issue 6, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jece.2021.106831
Keywords
Iron(III) oxide; Tantalum nitride; Visible irradiation; Wastewater treatment; Photocatalyst
Categories
Funding
- Korean Government [NRF-2021R1I1A3045310]
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The novel alpha-Fe2O3/Ta3N5 nanocomposites demonstrated significantly higher photocatalytic activity due to efficient electron-hole separation and a favorable band-edge position for reactive oxygen species generation.
Novel alpha-Fe2O3/Ta3N5 nanocomposites were designed based on the Z-scheme system and a suitable band-edge potential for photocatalytic action. The combination of alpha-Fe2O3 and Ta3N5 showed substantially higher photocatalytic activity compared with alpha-Fe2O3 or Ta3N5 alone. The improved performance was attributed to (i) efficient electron-hole separation at the interface between alpha-Fe2O3 and Ta3N5, which resulted in high light absorption; and (ii) a favorable band-edge position to generate reactive oxygen species. The nanocomposites were prepared by precipitation techniques and annealing at different temperatures in a sealed chamber. The photocatalytic activity of the samples in methylene blue degradation under visible light (VL) was monitored for 60 min. The best result of 98.26% was obtained for the FTN-1 nanocomposite (annealed at 45 degrees C), which is attributed to its high surface area, small particle size, and small crystallite size. Under similar conditions, FTN-1 exhibited 83.73%, 94.19%, and 48.86% efficiency in degrading rhodamine 6 G, non-photosensitizing Congo red, and the colorless contaminant phenol. The rate of MB degradation by FTN-1 was 539.4% and 651.2% greater than the rates of MB degradation by single catalysts alpha-Fe2O3 and Ta3N5, respectively. These values increased to 1939.4% and 2341.5% at pH 12 and a degradation time of 15 min. No substantial loss of activity or structural composition was observed after five consecutive runs. Overall, the nanocomposites exhibited a wide range of VL absorption and high photocatalytic efficiency. These results shed new light on the VL-active, Z-scheme photocatalyst field and indicate that the proposed photocatalysts are suitable for practical wastewater treatment.
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