Facile synthesis of Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles from Egyptian insecticide cans for efficient photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and crystal violet dyes.

In this study, Fe ₂ O ₃ (hematite) nanoparticles with different crystallite sizes (40-59 nm) were synthesized from Egyptian insecticide cans using the combustion method. The organic fuels were urea, glycine, L-alanine, and L-valine. Fe ₂ O ₃ nanoparticles were characterized utilizing different devices such as BET, PL, FT-IR, XRD, HR-TEM, FE-SEM, UV-Vis, and DTG. Crystal violet (CV) and methylene blue (MB) dyes were efficiently removed from aqueous solution by photocatalytic degradation under UV irradiation in the presence of Fe ₂ O ₃ and H ₂ O ₂ . The % degradation of 50 mL crystal violet or methylene blue dye (20 mg/L) using 0.1 g Fe ₂ O ₃ in the presence of H ₂ O ₂ was 100% after 30 or 40 min, respectively. Also, the degradation processes are fitted well with the first order model. Besides, the photocatalytic activity of Fe ₂ O ₃ unaltered even after it was reused three times. Hence, the synthesized Fe ₂ O ₃ nanoparticles can be considered a promising and efficient photocatalyst for the degradation of crystal violet and methylene blue dyes.
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