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Title: | Fabrication of r-GO/GO/α-Fe2O3/Fe2TiO5 Nanocomposite Using Natural Ilmenite and Graphite for Efficient Photocatalysis in Visible Light |
Authors: | Usgodaarachchi, L Jayanetti, M Thambiliyagodage, C Liyanaarachchi, H Vigneswaran, S |
Keywords: | ilmenite sand nanocomposites reduced graphene oxide type ii heterostructures visible light photocatalysis |
Issue Date: | Jan-2023 |
Publisher: | MDPI |
Citation: | Usgodaarachchi, L.; Jayanetti, M.; Thambiliyagodage, C.; Liyanaarachchi, H.; Vigneswaran, S. Fabrication of r-GO/GO/α-Fe2O3/Fe2TiO5 Nanocomposite Using Natural Ilmenite and Graphite for Efficient Photocatalysis in Visible Light. Materials 2023, 16, 139. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16010139 |
Series/Report no.: | Materials;Volume 16, Issue 1,No 139 |
Abstract: | Hematite (α-Fe2O3) and pseudobrookite (Fe2TiO5) suffer from poor charge transport and a high recombination effect under visible light irradiation. This study investigates the design and production of a 2D graphene-like r-GO/GO coupled α-Fe2O3/Fe2TiO5 heterojunction composite with better charge separation. It uses a simple sonochemical and hydrothermal approach followed by L-ascorbic acid chemical reduction pathway. The advantageous band offset of the α-Fe2O3/Fe2TiO5 (TF) nanocomposite between α-Fe2O3 and Fe2TiO5 forms a Type-II heterojunction at the Fe2O3/Fe2TiO5 interface, which efficiently promotes electron-hole separation. Importantly, very corrosive acid leachate resulting from the hydrochloric acid leaching of ilmenite sand, was successfully exploited to fabricate α-Fe2O3/Fe2TiO5 heterojunction. In this paper, a straightforward synthesis strategy was employed to create 2D graphene-like reduced graphene oxide (r-GO) from Ceylon graphite. The two-step process comprises oxidation of graphite to graphene oxide (GO) using the improved Hummer’s method, followed by controlled reduction of GO to r-GO using L-ascorbic acid. Before the reduction of GO to the r-GO, the surface of TF heterojunction was coupled with GO and was allowed for the controlled L-ascorbic acid reduction to yield r-GO/GO/α-Fe2O3/Fe2TiO5 nanocomposite. Under visible light illumination, the photocatalytic performance of the 30% GO/TF loaded composite material greatly improved (1240 Wcm−2). Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) examined the morphological characteristics of fabricated composites. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) served to analyze the structural features of the produced composites. © 2022 by the authors. |
URI: | https://rda.sliit.lk/handle/123456789/3232 |
ISSN: | 19961944 |
Appears in Collections: | Department of Materials Engineering School of Natural Sciences |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
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materials-16-00139.pdf | 9.06 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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