Synthesis of α-Fe2O3/TiO2 nanotube arrays for photoelectro-Fenton degradation of phenol

Developing new nanophotocatalysts and identifying their roles are highly attractive in environmental protection and energy utilization. Photoelectro-Fenton process is an environmentally friendly technology and has a wide application in the control of environmental pollutants. However, efficient nanophotocatalysts responsive to visible light are still few. In this work, we have successfully synthesized a uniformly dispersed alpha-Fe2O3/TiO2 nanotubes hetero-nanostructure by electrochemical deposition method for the degradation of phenol. Compared with the separate alpha-Fe2O3 nanoparticles and TiO2 nanotubes, the composite alpha-Fe2O3/TiO2 nanotubes electrodes were more effective in the photoelectro-Fenton degradation of phenol and a 100% removal efficiency of phenol was obtained after 60 min treatment. The composite alpha-Fe2O3/TiO2 electrodes showed an enhanced absorbance in visible light region and had good stability to photoelectro-Fenton reactions. The role of alpha-Fe2O3 nanoparticles in various Fenton-related processes were systematically investigated. The results indicate that alpha-Fe2O3/TiO2 nanotubes are promising material for pollution prevention. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.