Fabrication and Characterization of Co-Doped Fe2O3 Spindles for the Enhanced Photo-Fenton Catalytic Degradation of Tetracycline

• Published in: ACS omega Vol. 6; no. 49; pp. 33717 - 33727
• Main Authors: Wu, Liangpeng, Wang, Wenguang, Zhang, Shaohong, Mo, Dan, Li, Xinjun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 14.12.2021
• DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.1c04950
• ISSN: 2470-1343

Co-doped Fe2O3 spindles with different Co contents were successfully fabricated by a facile one-step hydrothermal method. The crystalline structure, morphology, optical properties, and chemical state of the as-prepared catalysts before and after photo-Fenton reaction were characterized. Co2+ incorporated into the Fe2O3 lattice was confirmed by the above characterizations. Also, the photocatalytic and photo-Fenton catalytic performances of the samples were evaluated by the degradation of tetracycline (TC) under visible light irradiation in the absence/presence of H2O2. The results demonstrated that Co-doped Fe2O3 spindles exhibited better catalytic degradation performance in comparison with single Fe2O3 spindles, and the sample of Co(5%)-Fe2O3 spindles displayed the highest activity and best stability. The improvement of photo-Fenton activity might be attributed to two reasons: On the one hand, Co-doped Fe2O3 spindles not only formed the Fe vacancies to reduce the band gap but also could build up an internal electric field, which inhibits electron/hole pair recombination and facilitates the transfer of photoexcited charge carriers. On the other hand, the intrinsic Co2+/Co3+ redox cycling can accelerate the circulation between Fe2+ and Fe3+ in Co(5%)-Fe2O3 spindles to facilitate H2O2 consumption and produce more ·OH radicals for TC degradation.