Industrial manufacturing and mining processes can produce wastewaters that are laden with heavy metal and inorganic contaminants that impact the environment and human health. Many inorganic contaminants exist in multiple oxidation states, with one form that is both more toxic and more difficult to remove from aqueous systems. Photocatalysts offer a potentially greener mechanism to remediate these inorganic contaminants than existing technologies. Specifically, nα-Fe2O3 offers a higher adsorption capacity for inorganics and potentially lower energy costs than nano TiO2, the most studied photocatalyst, due to a band gap energy in the visible light range. Our research examines the role of morphology, surface area, size and degree of crystallinity in the photocatalytic behavior of nα-Fe2O3. We are simultaneously exploring the ability of nα-Fe2O3 to photoreduce chromate, “a model” for inorganic contaminants that are more readily removed in a reduced state. These findings contribute to a growing body of literature examining the impact of nanoparticle structure on functionality, as well as offer insight into the minimally explored space of photoreduction of contaminants.

Impact of hematite nanoparticle (nα-Fe2O3) morphology and size on photocatalytic potential as exampled by reduction of chromate

249th National Meeting (2015)

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