Photocatalytic activities of ultra-small β-FeOOH and TiO 2 heterojunction structure under simulated solar irradiation

Highlights: • Ultra small β-FeOOH with TiO{sub 2} in heterojunction showed good photocatalytic activity under simulated solar irradiation. • Significant improvement of photocatalytic activity compared to pristine TiO{sub 2}. • The as prepared catalyst decoloured industrial textile effluent within 30 min. - Abstract: Photocatalytic performance of β-FeOOH/TiO{sub 2} heterojunction structure, created from ultra-small β-FeOOH nanorods (2–6 nm diameter) and spherical anatase phase of TiO{sub 2} nanoparticles (∼100 nm), is reported in this study. Three different β-FeOOH mol% of (2, 5 and 10%) β-FeOOH/TiO{sub 2} composite was prepared. 5% β-FeOOH/TiO{sub 2} composite material showed the highest photocatalytic activity. XRD, high temperature XRD, FTIR, TEM, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) were used to characterise the prepared catalyst. The developed catalyst showed excellent photocatalytic activity in photodegradation of methyl orange (MO) than β-FeOOH and TiO{sub 2} under simulated solar irradiation. Two commercial metal complex dyes and real textile effluent were efficiently photodegraded under identical conditions. The developed catalyst exhibited good recyclability without the need of sintering. No significant loss in efficiency was observed during the recycling cycle. These characteristics highlight the potential application of the developed photocatalyst in textile effluent treatment via photocatalysis. The enhanced photocatalytic activity was attributed to the relative energymore » band positions and very good electron, e{sup −} and hole, h{sup +} conduction ability of TiO{sub 2} and β-FeOOH particles respectively.« less