Acid-Assisted One-Step In-Situ Polymerization Synthesis of PANI/α-Fe2O3/β-FeOOH Composites and Its Formation Mechanism

In this paper, PANI/α-Fe 2 O 3 /β-FeOOH composites were prepared by a facile one-step in-situ polymerization method under acidic conditions. The effects of various reaction conditions were studied. The properties of PANI/α-Fe 2 O 3 /β-FeOOH were investigated by X-ray diffraction, Fourier infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and UV–Visible absorption spectrum measurement. The results indicated PANI/α-Fe 2 O 3 /β-FeOOH composites synthesized at the molar ratio of An, APS, and FeCl 3 is 1:1:2 showed better crystallinity and no impurity phase. The photocatalytic degradation efficiency of PANI/α-Fe 2 O 3 /β-FeOOH composites on Rhodamine B (RhB) was superior to pure α-Fe 2 O 3 . During the synthesis process, hydrochloric acid plays a very important role, not only promotes the hydrolysis and precipitation of FeCl 3 ·6H 2 O, but also acts as a dopant during the polymerization of aniline. The formation mechanism of PANI/α-Fe 2 O 3 /β-FeOOH was proposed.