Fabrication of Fe2TiO5/TiO2 binary nanocomposite from natural ilmenite and their photocatalytic activity under solar energy

Abstract Heterogeneous photocatalysis is an attractive alternative route to enhance the degradation of environmental pollutants. In this work, we have fabricated Fe2TiO5/TiO2 binary nanocomposites using natural ilmenite via bottom up approach. Synthesized nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffractometry, X-ray fluorescence, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance UV–Visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. These nanoparticles are in the range of 40–70 ​nm and are of type I heterostructure with a band gap of 2.02 ​eV. They are sensitive to visible light and show higher photocatalytic activity under direct solar energy. Photocatalytic activity of Fe2TiO5/TiO2 was assessed using a model textile dye, methylene blue. Over a period of 2 ​h, 76% of methylene blue was photodegraded at a rate of 0.0084 min−1 in the presence of Fe2TiO5/TiO2.