Preferentially grown nanostructured iron disulfide (FeS2) for removal of industrial pollutantsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c6ra18838a

Preferentially grown nanostructured materials show extraordinary properties even compared with their nanostructured counterparts. The present study deals with a preferentially grown iron disulfide (FeS 2 ) pyrite phase. Pyrite (111) shows high catalytic activity towards methylene blue (MB) and a textile dye (Synazol Yellow K-HL). In the present study, pyrite (111) was successfully synthesized using a low cost effective hydrothermal method and then employed as a photocatalyst for degradation of methylene blue as well as the textile dye Synazol Yellow K-HL. The structural, morphological and optical features of the synthesized FeS 2 material were confirmed by X-ray diffraction and UV-visible spectrophotometry. The as synthesized powder was also characterized by Raman spectroscopy to confirm the pyrite phase formation. The dye degradation is based on a mechanism involving reactive oxygen species produced from a photo Fenton like process. The maximum degradation efficiency of a methylene blue dye solution and the textile dye Synazol Yellow K-HL was 95.90% and 99.29%, respectively, after 120 minutes with a 1 g L −1 FeS 2 catalyst dose. This work proposes a vision to develop transition metal based photocatalysts for degradation of harmful organic contaminants present in waste water and for many other environment friendly applications. Preferentially grown nanostructured iron disulfide pyrite (111) was successfully synthesized using a low cost effective hydrothermal method, then employed as a photocatalyst for degradation of methylene blue and the textile dye Synazol Yellow K-HL.