Synthesis and characterisation of TiO2 nanoparticles/Fe2O3 waste chips composite

Water contamination along with the environmental issues resulted by industrial wastewaters have caused a trend in applying semiconducting photocatalysts, among which TiO2 composites have been particularly focused on to overcome the drawbacks of titanium(IV) oxide also known as titania. In the current investigation, waste chips of a structural steel bar with the chemical composition of Fe2O3 were utilised to obtain the TiO2-Fe2O3 composite. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, diffusive reflectance spectra, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analyses were made to evaluate the composition and structure of the samples. Furthermore, the photocatalytic performance of the samples was studied by methyl orange (MeO) degradation. XRD spectra proved the presence of anatase and Fe2O3 phases in the sample of 10%wt. Fe2O3. The results indicate that as the Fe2O3 content rises, the bandgap narrows. However, the specific surface area enlarges as this amount goes up to a certain limit (10%wt.), from which any further increase leads to a reduction in the specific surface area. The obtained results of MeO decolourisation presented the Fe2O3 of 10%wt. and bandgap of 2.72 eV, and the specific surface area of 63 m(2)/g to be of the highest efficiency (96%).