One-pot synthesis of Fe2O3 loaded SiO2 hollow particles as effective visible light photo-Fenton catalyst

Amorphous Fe2O3 loaded SiO2 hollow particles were obtained via a one-pot two-step solution synthesis followed by calcination. With the help of citrate ions, the iron containing resorcinol formaldehyde resin nanoparticles (Fe-RF NPs) were first synthesized through the extended Stöber method. Then silica coating is further conducted in a one-pot manner. It was found that the silica layer can effectively prevent the inner Fe2O3 nanoparticles from becoming large during heat treatment, endowing them with small size and amorphous structure. The final product exhibits good catalytic performance in photo-Fenton degradation of methylene blue with visible light.