Dyes mixed with the normal water reservoirs cause severe hazardous effects to all living beings and hence the removal of them is greatly important. A novel nanophotocatalyst was fabricated using shrimp shells and natural ilmenite sand to degrade methylene blue under sunlight. Chitosan obtained from shrimp shells and the product from natural ilmenite were mixed in different ratios as 1:1 (C1), 4:3, 2:1, and 4:1, and were hydrothermally coupled followed by pyrolysis. The obtained nanocomposite was characterized by X-ray diffractometry, Transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and diffuse reflectance UV-Visible spectroscopy. Nanocomposites consisted of Fe2O3 and TiO2 nanoparticles dispersed on a graphitic carbon framework where the turbostratic carbon with a d spacing of 0.35 nm is located close to the nanoparticles and the macropore structure of the carbon matrix is disturbed by the heterogeneously distributed nanoparticles. The degree of graphitization increased with increasing metal loading as indicated by decreasing ID/IG ratio. The surface of the nanomaterials consists of Fe3+ and Ti4+ and the band gap values of the composites varied in the range of 2.48 – 2.82 eV. The photocatalytic activity of the synthesized nanomaterials was determined and was found that C1 showed the highest rate constant (0.069 min-1) for the photodegradation of methylene blue under sunlight. The rate constant increased with increasing concentration of persulfate added to the medium as they provided more SO4●- and OH● radicals to enhance the rate of the reaction. The rate constant decreased greatly with the addition of EDTA and isopropyl alcohol as they scavenge holes and hydroxyl radicals suggesting that those are the main reductant species. Therefore, it is evident that the nanophotocatalyst fabricated by natural shrimp shells and ilmenite sand is effective in photodegrading methylene blue in an aqueous medium under sunlight.

Efficient photocatalysis of Fe2O3/TiO2/graphitic carbon fabricated from shrimp shells and ilmenite sand

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