Fe-decorated TiO2 powder photocatalysts with enhanced visible-light-driven degradation activities

•A liquid phase plasma was used to synthesize the iron oxide doped TiO2 photocatalyst.•The iron oxide particles were precipitated uniformly on the TiO2 powders.•Synthesized photocatalyst had smaller band gap energy than the bare TiO2.•The photocatalyst synthesized showed photoactivity under visible blue light.

The liquid phase plasma (LPP) synthetic process was exploited to synthesize an iron oxide doped TiO2 photocatalyst (IOTP) that is sensitive to visible light. This IOTP was tested for photoactivation using ultraviolet and visible light exposure. The physical and chemical properties of the prepared IOTP powders were studied by various analysis instruments (UV-Vis spectroscopy, FESEM, HR-FETEM, HR-XPS). The band gap energy of the IOTP was found to be 2.93 eV, which was smaller than that of the bare TiO2, 3.18 eV. The IOTP synthesized in this work showed photoactivity under visible blue light. However, its photoactivity was lower than that of the bare TiO2 powder under UV light because the iron oxide precipitate acted as crystal defects, deteriorating the catalytic activity.