New age monolithic design-based visible light responsive and reusable photocatalyst material using iron oxide-modified mesoporous titania framework

摘要

In this work, we report a facile route for the synthesis of worm-like mesoporous Fe$_2$O$_3$-doped TiO$_2$ monolithic composites through a direct template sola??gel method, for the photocatalytic degradation of textile dye (acid blue 113) pollutants. The monolith surface morphology and structural properties have been characterized using p-XRD, HR-SEMa??EDAX, HR-TEMa??SAED, TGA, UVa??Visa??DRS, PLS, FTIR, XPS and BET analyses. The stoichiometric doping of Fe$_2$O$_3$ unleashes visible light photocatalytic activity through a red shift in the light absorption character of TiO$_2$, thereby narrowing the energy band gap, and an eventual increase in e$^a??$$/$h$^+$ separation centres. The monolithic photocatalyst exhibits better properties in terms of surface area, pore volume and diameter. The physico-chemical parameters, such as solution pH, dopant stoichiometry, catalyst quantity, dye concentration, photo-sensitizers and light intensity have been optimized to enhance the photocatalysis efficiency. The photocatalyst exhibits complete dye mineralization within 0.5 h, and also reusable for five continuous cycles.