Preparation and photocatalytic property of porous α-Fe2O3 nanoflowers

Porous alpha-Fe2O3 nanoflowers were successfully prepared by calcining Fe3S4 precursor. The crystal structures, pore sizes and surface areas of the samples could be tuned through changing heat-treating temperatures. The samples calcined at 600 degrees C exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) under visible light irradiation, which showed a degradation efficiency of more than 99% within 40 min. The enhanced photocatalytic activity could be attributed to its porous hierarchical structure which could promote light absorption efficiency, largely decrease the distance of charge carriers moving to solution and enlarge its specific surface area. This simple and scalable strategy can also be extended to other porous metal oxide nanostructures for photocatalytic applications.