Biosynthesis of Fe2O3@SiO2 nanoparticles and its photocatalytic activity

Biosynthesis of Fe2O3@SiO2 nanoparticles with an eco-friendly, green approach is reported here. It was characterised by XRD, SEM, TEM and EDX analysis. The Fe2O3@SiO2 nanoparticles was efficiently used as a photocatalyst for degradation of methyl red (MR) dye. The results revealed that the Fe2O3@SiO2 showed significant photocatalytic activity compared to SiO2, Fe2O3 and Fe2O3@SiO2 (commercial) nanoparticles/nanocomposite. There is no significant loss of its photocatalytic activity of Fe2O3@SiO2 in degradation of MR dye up to 5th cycle run. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.