Fe2O3/TiO2 film electrodes prepared by the forced hydrolysis method and their photoelectrocatalytic performance

TiO2 composites are ideal pollution control materials. In this paper, Fe2O3/TiO2 film electrodes were prepared by the sol-gel and forced hydrolysis method. The apparent properties and electrochemical properties of the prepared electrodes were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), chronocoulometry and linear sweep voltammetry, and their photoelectrocatalytic properties were investigated under visible light by degradation experiments of Rhodamine B (RhB). The results showed that the particles prepared from 0.1 M Fe(NO3)3 precursor were completely and uniformly distributed on the film surface. During the degradation experiments, the visible-light response current was 23.4 μA, and the decolorized rate for RhB could be up to 92.3%. The semiconductor heterojunction structure comprised of Fe2O3 and TiO2 could effectively separate photo-generated electron hole pairs, inhibit their recombination, accelerate interfacial charge transfer, and enhance photocatalytic properties.