Morphology controlled fabrication of Fe2O3/GCN composites: a comparative study of hydrothermal and sonochemical synthesis methods for efficient sunlight driven photocatalysis for environmental remediation

A novel bifunctional type of Z-scheme heterojunction with excellent adsorption and photocatalytic properties has been synthesized successfully using hydrothermal and sonochemical methods. The Fe2O3/g-C3N4 (GCN) nanocomposite, which has a distinct nanorod-like shape, has been characterized using various analytical techniques such as XRD, XPS, FESEM-EDS, TEM, and UV-DRS. The results of sunlight-driven photodegradation experiments indicate that the hydrothermally synthesized Fe2O3/GCN nanocomposite achieved a 95% degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye within 45 min. The improved photocatalytic activity is believed to be due to the formation of a Z-scheme heterojunction system, as supported by active species trapping experiments. Additionally, the composite photocatalyst demonstrated high degradation efficiency and stability over four cycles. Trapping studies c (OH)-O-center dot and O-2(center dot-) were the principal active species in the photocatalytic process created by sunlight irradiation of a Z-scheme Fe2O3/GCN photocatalyst.