Studies of the photocatalytic and electrochemical performance of the Fe 2 O 3 /TiO 2 heteronanostructure

The α-Fe2O3/TiO2 nanostructure material, synthesized on FTO (fluorine-doped tin oxide) substrate using the hydrothermal method at 180 °C for 5 h, exhibits an enhanced performance in the photocatalytic degradation of an organic dye. The optical band gap was found to decrease compared to the TiO2 one. The photocatalytic performances of the as-prepared heterojunction were evaluated with the degradation of methylene blue (MB) in an aqueous medium. The results revealed that the photocatalytic activity of the Fe2O3/TiO2/FTO was much higher than that of the pure TiO2. In addition, the photocurrent of the Fe2O3/TiO2/FTO heterojunction was remarkably higher than that of the bare TiO2 electrode. The obtained results indicate that the heterojunction formed between Fe2O3 and TiO2significantly improved the separation efficiency of the photo-generated electron–hole pairs. The electrochemical properties of the as-synthesized nanocomposite materials (α-Fe2O3/TiO2) were also evaluated with cyclic voltammetry for 1000 cycles. This nanocomposite exhibited an enhanced specific discharge capacity compared to the Fe2O3 nanomaterial. The as-produced material proved to have an impressive performance as a high-capacity anode for Na+-ion batteries.