Hydrothermal synthesized α-Fe2O3/Mn2O3 nanocomposite for efficient photodegradation of methylene blue under visible light

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran

10.22059/jufgnsm.2025.01.12

Abstract

Treating wastewater using transition metal oxide nanocomposites as efficient photocatalysts has received more attention in recent years. In this work, to develop a new efficient photocatalyst based on metal oxides, the α-Fe2O3/Mn2O3 heterojunction nanocomposite was prepared via a facile one-pot hydrothermal precipitate technique and characterized by FT-IR, XRD, UV-Vis, PL, SEM and TEM techniques. The results confirm the successful formation of α-Fe2O3/Mn2O3 nanocomposite. The as-prepared α-Fe2O3/Mn2O3 was assessed for the photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) as a model wastewater under visible light irradiation. The photocatalytic activity for degradation of MB was calculated to be 96.7% within 90 min. The kinetics of experimental data were studied using the Langmuir mechanism, resulting in a rate constant of 0.02521 min-1. The effect of different scavengers on photodegradation efficiency was investigated and the results predicted that the O2-° radicals are responsible for the degradation of MB dye molecules. The reusability after six cycles was studied without significant activity change, confirming the photocatalytic efficiency and stability of α-Fe2O3/Mn2O3 nanocomposite. Therefore, the as-prepared α-Fe2O3/Mn2O3 is a promising photocatalyst in the photodegradation of other organic dyes.

Keywords

References

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Journal of Ultrafine Grained and Nanostructured Materials
Volume 58, Issue 1
June 2025
Pages 120-131

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  • Receive Date: 19 December 2024
  • Revise Date: 02 May 2025
  • Accept Date: 04 May 2025

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