Photocatalytic efficiency of Fe 2 O 3 /TiO 2 for the degradation of typical dyes in textile industries: Effects of calcination temperature and UV-assisted thermal synthesis.

The inadequate management practices in industrial textile effluents have a considerable negative impact on the environment and human health due to the indiscriminate release of dyes. Photocatalysis is one of the diverse advance oxidation processes (AOPs) and titanium dioxide (TiO2 ) is recognized for its high oxidation and reduction power. A composite photocatalyst of Fe2 O3 /TiO2 is synthesized using different mass ratios of Fe:TiO2 to improve its photoactivity. The composite photocatalyst is calcined at 300-900 °C. Their photocatalytic activity for the degradation of Congo red (CR) and methyl orange (MO) is investigated by total organic carbon (TOC) analysis. The formation and characterization of the as-prepared composite are studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The effect of calcination temperature on the composite Fe2 O3 /TiO2 photocatalyst is investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The photocatalytic activity and the phase conversion are studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The specific surface area of photocatalysts at different calcination temperatures is investigated based on Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis. Results show that at an optimum calcination temperature of 300 °C for the photocatalyst preparation, the specific surface area is maximum and the photocatalyst has the highest photoactivity. Thus, the degradation of organic materials reaches 62.0% for MO and 46.8% for CR in the presence of Fe2 O3 /TiO2 (0.01 w:w Fe:TiO2 ) calcined at 300 °C with the highest specific surface area (98.73 m2 /g). The transformation of TiO2 from anatase to rutile is facilitated by high temperature and high concentration of iron while high crystallization and particle size increase occur. An optimum calcination temperature of 300 °C is found at which the degradation of typical dyes in textile industries is maximum.