Enhanced photocatalytic and electrochemical performance of TiO2-Fe2O3 nanocomposite: Its applications in dye decolorization and as supercapacitors

This work reveals a green combustion route for the synthesis of TiO 2 , Fe 2 O 3 and TiO 2 -Fe 2 O 3 nanocomposites as photocatalysts for decolorization of Titan Yellow (TY) and Methyl Orange (MO) dyes at room temperature in aqueous solution concentration of 20 ppm under UV-light irradiation. We observed that the TiO 2 -Fe 2 O 3 nanocomposite shows superior photocatalytic activity for TY dye compared to pure TiO 2 and Fe 2 O 3 . Rate constant (k) values of TiO 2 , Fe 2 O 3 and TiO 2 –Fe 2 O 3 for TY and MO are 0.0194, 0.0159, 0.04396 and 0.00931, 0.00772 0.0119 kmin −1 respectively. The surface area and pore volume of TiO 2 -Fe 2 O 3 nanocomposite were found to be 71.56 m 2 /g and 0.076 cm 3 /g, respectively as revealed by BET studies. From the Barrett–Joyner–Halenda (BJH) plot, the mean pore diameter of TiO 2 -Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles was found to be 2.43 nm. Further, the TiO 2 -Fe 2 O 3 nanocomposite showed good electrochemical behavior as an electrode material for supercapacitors when compared to pure TiO 2 and Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles resulted in stable electrochemical performance with nearly 100% coulombic efficiency at a scan rate of 10 mV/s for 1000 cycles. Interestingly, the novelty of this work is that the designed supercapacitors showed stable electrochemical performance even at 1000 th cycle, which might be useful for rechargeable supercapacitor applications. The electrochemical properties of the nanocomposites were compared by the data obtained by cyclic voltammograms, charge-discharge tests and electrochemical impedance spectroscopic studies. These results demonstrated that the TiO 2 -Fe 2 O 3 nanocomposite showed stable performance compared to TiO 2 and Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles at current density of 5 Ag −1 .