Photocatalytic degradation of congo red dye on combustion synthesised Fe₂O₃

Abstract

This paper reports the semiconductor assisted photochemical degradation of reactive azo dye such as Congo Red on combustion synthesized ferric oxide as a photocatalyst. Oxalyldihydrazide is used as fuel in different molar proportions. Ferric oxide is characterized by powder XRD, Brunquer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area, scanning electron microscopy, reflectance spectroscopy and powder density. BET surface area is found to be 32 m²gm^-1and has a particle size equals to 66 nm. Energy gap is found to be 2.91 eV as observed by reflectance spectroscopy. Ninety seven per cent COD removal is observed at <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">p</i>H 6 within 90 min using UV light (254 nm wavelength) as a source of radiation.