The Effect of Fe-Loading and Calcination Temperature on the Activity of Fe/TiO2 in Phenol Degradation

Abstract

<em>In this research work, iron modified titanium dioxide photocatalyst was synthesized by the sol-gel method. The catalyst is characterized by FT-IR, XRF, and TGA techniques. Since the activity of Fe/TiO₂ is highly affected by the loading of Fe, our major purpose of this work was focused on the role of this factor. Moreover, the effect of calcination temperature, which was also of high importance, was studied in this work.</em><em> FT-IR results indicated the existence of a peak in the range of 1100-1200</em><em>corresponding to Ti-O-Fe bonds.</em><em> The intensity of this peak is proportional to the amount</em><em> of iron, which is incorporated into the TiO₂ lattice. Optimum Fe-loading was specified by FT-IR and it was measured by XRF. In order to evaluate the catalytic activity of </em><em>Fe/TiO₂</em><em>, a synthetic wastewater of phenol was irradiated by the UV lamp (757.38 mW/cm³), Fe/TiO₂ with the dosage of 0.5 g/L was applied as the catalyst and H₂O₂ (12.5 mL, 30% wt. /wt.) was added as an oxidizing agent.</em><em>Experimental results proved, the optimum condition for phenol degradation process over Fe/TiO₂ is as follows: Fe loading in the TiO₂ lattice: Fe₂O₃/TiO₂ is 0.27%, calcination temperature: 600°C, and irradiation time of 600 min. Under this circumstance, 98.26% of the phenol in water was decomposed.</em>