Inexpensive synthesis of a high-performance Fe3O4-SiO2-TiO2 photocatalyst: Magnetic recovery and reuse

A sol-gel technique has been developed for the synthesis of a magnetite-silica-titania (Fe 3 O 4 -SiO 2 -TiO 2 ) tertiary nanocomposite with improved photocatalytic properties based on the use of inexpensive titania and silica precursors. The exceptional photocatalytic activity of the resulting mate...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers of chemical science and engineering 2016-09, Vol.10 (3), p.405-416
Main Authors: Abbas, Nadir, Shao, Godlisten N., Imran, Syed M., Haider, Muhammad S., Kim, Hee Taik
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Catalysts
Chemical synthesis
Chemistry
Chemistry and Materials Science
Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering
Infrared spectroscopy
Iron oxides
Methylene blue
Nanocomposites
Nanomaterials
Nanotechnology
Optical properties
Photocatalysis
Photocatalysts
Research Article
Scanning electron microscopy
Silicon dioxide
Titanium dioxide
Titanium oxides
Transmission electron microscopy
X-ray diffraction
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Summary:A sol-gel technique has been developed for the synthesis of a magnetite-silica-titania (Fe 3 O 4 -SiO 2 -TiO 2 ) tertiary nanocomposite with improved photocatalytic properties based on the use of inexpensive titania and silica precursors. The exceptional photocatalytic activity of the resulting materials was demonstrated by using them to photocatalyze the degradation of methylene blue solution. The best formulation achieved 98% methylene blue degradation. An interesting feature of the present work was the ability to magnetically separate and reuse the catalyst. The efficiency of the catalyst remained high during two reuses. The synthesized nanomaterials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, ultra-violet-visible spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. XRD analysis revealed the formation of multicrystalline systems of cubic magnetite and anatase titania crystals. SEM and TEM characterization revealed well-developed and homo-geneously dispersed particles of size less than 15 nm. FTIR spectra confirmed the chemical interaction of titania and silica. It was further noticed that the optical properties of the prepared materials were dependent on the relative contents of their constituent metal oxides.
ISSN:2095-0179
2095-0187
DOI:10.1007/s11705-016-1579-x