Electrochemical Synthesis and Photocatalytic Properties of α-Fe2O3

The electrochemical method was used to synthesize hematite (α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles in the 0.1 M NaCl solution. The α-Fe₂O₃ were synthesized by dissolution the iron anode with formation the Fe(OH)x and its calcinations at different temperatures. The samples were characterized by means by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman and UV-vis spectroscopy, electron microscopy, EDX and FTIR. The photocatalytic oxidation of the mordant dye Chrome blue (CB) using electrochemical synthesize hematite was studied under ultraviolet light (UV-light) irradiations. The effect of hematite calcination temperature and hydrogen peroxide concentration on photocatalytic degradation of chrome blue was carried out. Increasing the annealing temperature are increases the degree of dye decolorization which connected with the gradually increasing proportion of the crystalline phase at the expense of the amorphous phase.