In this research, iron oxide (Fe2O3) nanoparticles were doped with 5% mol of metallic material silver (Ag) and non-metallic material sulfur (S) by a wet impregnation process. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to determine the shape and arrangement of the crystals. UV-Vis spectroscopy was used to study the photocatalytic degradation of dye pollutants by measuring the absorbance spectra of the Ag/Fe2O3 and S/Fe₂O₃ nanoparticle samples. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of pH on the photocatalytic activity of nanoparticles. The pH of a 5ppm solution of methylene blue (MB) dye was changed to 3 and 8 using hydrochloric acid (HCl) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH). In pH=8, Ag/Fe2O3 takes 240 min to reach nearly 93.35% degradation, while S/Fe2O3 achieves over 90% degradation in the first 60 min of the photocatalysis process. At pH=3, Ag/Fe2O3 achieves only 34.46 %, while S/Fe2O3 achieves 61.44% decomposition after 240 min. The pseudo-first-order kinetic model was found to be the best fit for the adsorption of MB by the two catalysts.
Influence of pH on the Photocatalytic Activity of Ag/Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3 </sub>and S/ Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> Nanoparticles by Methyl Blue Dye Degradation
Fe2O3
Photo Catalysts
Methyl Blue (MB)
Dye
Degradation