Development of novel α-Fe2O3/NiTiO3 heterojunction nanofibers material with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic performance

In the present work, a heterojunction nanofiber material alpha-Fe2O3/NiTiO3, was synthesized by a two-step method involving calcining process. The characteristic nature of the materials such as composition and optical properties were examined by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and the results confirmed the high crystalline behavior and fiber-like heterostructures of the alpha-Fe2O3/NiTiO3 composites. The alpha-Fe2O3/NiTiO3 heterojunction nanofibers were observed to exhibit an enhanced performance in the photocatalytic degradation of organic dye Rhodamine B (RhB) under the visible light irradiation. The superior absorptive behavior of alpha-Fe2O3/NiTiO3 heterojunction nanofibers to pure alpha-Fe2O3 nanofibers in the longer wavelength region was confirmed by UV-vis Diffuse Reflectance Spectral (DRS) studies. The photoluminescence (PL) spectral studies indicated that the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs has been decreased in the case of alpha-Fe2O3/NiTiO3. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.