Green synthesis of hematite/TUD-1 nanocomposite as efficient photocatalyst for bromophenol blue and methyl violet degradation

Hematite immobilized on TUD-1 nanocomposite was prepared via sol-gel composite formation of biosynthesized hematite nanoparticles with TUD-1 precursor. The nanocomposite was characterized by various techniques such as X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopes/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, transmission electron microscope, gas sorption analysis, and UV–Visible diffuse reflectance spectrophotometer. Photocatalytic activity of the nanocomposite was examined in bromophenol blue and methyl violet degradation. The results showed that hematite nanoparticles obtained by the biosynthesis has particle size ranging at 20–100 nm. The nanocomposite of hematite/TUD-1 exhibit the homogeneous dispersion of the hematite in the mesoporous structured TUD-1. The smaller dispersed hematite nanoparticles affects to the increasing band gap energy of hematite, and is responsible for the efficient photocatalytic degradation of bromophenol blue and methyl violet. It is found that degradation efficiencies of the reactions over hematite/TUD-1 nanocomposite are 94.6% for bromophenol blue, and 96.7% for methyl violet. The degradation efficiency and kinetics constant of the degradation reaction expressed the effectiveness of the nanocomposite since the values are comparable with the hematite nanoparticles and other reported photocatalysts.