Developing of semi-transparent α-Fe2O3/Cu2O heterostructures with S-scheme photocatalytic activity and biological interests

The scarcity of water has been an outgrowing problem, while population is increasing so is the demand for the water. Hence conservation of water is most important and this material might bring in drastic changes in recycling the wastewater into portable ones. The α-Fe2O3/Cu2O is a desirably tailored nanomaterial synthesized using eco-friendly cost-effective hydrothermal method, where α-Fe2O3 and Cu2O were synthesized separately and later combined to produce an effective material. The material are characterized using advanced techniques like XPS, HR-TEM, XRD, FT-IR, BET, UV-DSR, ESR, LC-MS, ICP-AES, and UPS to understand complete morphology and functioning of the material. They are examined for various application in different fields such as dye degradation, heavy metal removal and organic pollutants elimination via photocatalysis under solar irradiation. The α-Fe2O3 and Cu2O had the work function of 6.10 and 5.49 eV respectively and band energy of 1.46 and 2.6 eV. Docking analysis was carried out to know the protein docking efficiency. Biocompatibility of the materials is addressed upon the HeLa cell line and α-Fe2O3/Cu2O exposure causes inflammation in the lung fluids in a mouse model using the Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) assay at high concentrations, proving that the materials can help with current and future biological applications. [Display omitted] •Unique hydrothermal synthesis and characterization of α-Fe2O3/Cu2O function under S-scheme mechanism resulting in semi-transparent mesoporous heterostructure nano-photocatalysts.•Numerous applications provided with accurate work function, Fermi energy and band gap calculations, where dye degradation (MR), heavy metal removal (Cr) from industrial effluents and anti-microbial efficiency are being demonstrated.•The α-Fe2O3/Cu2O is also subjected to environmentally essential cytotoxic assessments using HeLa cell lines and swiss albino mice.