(Elsevier, 2021-01-01) Thambiliyagodage, C. J; Mirihana, S; Wijesekera, R; Madusanka, D. S; Kandanapitiye, M; Bakker, M
Heterogeneous photocatalysis is an attractive alternative route to enhance the degradation of environmental pollutants. In this work, we have fabricated Fe2TiO5/TiO2 binary nanocomposites using natural ilmenite via bottom up approach. Synthesized nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffractometry, X-ray fluorescence, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance UV–Visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. These nanoparticles are in the range of 40–70 nm and are of type I heterostructure with a band gap of 2.02 eV. They are sensitive to visible light and show higher photocatalytic activity under direct solar energy. Photocatalytic activity of Fe2TiO5/TiO2 was assessed using a model textile dye, methylene blue. Over a period of 2 h, 76% of methylene blue was photodegraded at a rate of 0.0084 min−1 in the presence of Fe2TiO5/TiO2.
