Photocatalytic Degradation of Direct Violet 4-Azodye in Aqueous Solution Using Α-Fe2o3thin Films

Abstract

This study involves the preparation of α-Fe 2 O 3 thin films coated on microscopic glass slides by thermal spray followed by thermally-induced decomposition of Prussian Blue(PB), Fe 4 [Fe(CN) 6 ] 3 , in air at 250°C. XRD and SEM were used to characterize the synthesized thin films for surface morphology texturing. Photocatalytic activity of α-Fe 2 O 3 thin films was investigated using direct violet 4-azodye, employing heterogeneous photocatalytic process. Two different types of light have been used in this study, one using UV light and the other using visible light using a 100-watt tungsten lamp. α-Fe 2 O 3 thin film does not give any significant effect upon using UV light while visible light caused more than 69.5% degradation of direct violet 4-azodye in the presence of 90.66 mg/L of H 2 O 2 . We studied the effect of different parameters on photocatalytic degradation process including changes in H 2 O 2 concentration and pH of the medium, were studied.