Photo-oxidation efficient As (III) under visible light using microporous Zn doped-Fe₃O₄ sphere

ABSTRACT

A series of microporous Zn doped Fe₃O₄ spheres were successfully fabricated by a simple method. The characteristic of the obtained products was studied using the X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, (SEM) scanning electron microscopy, UV-vis reflectance, FTIR techniques. The photo-oxidation of As(III) to As(V) by as-synthesised samples under visible light was examined. The results exposed that with Zn doped Fe₃O₄ photocatalyst, the complete oxidation of As(III) to As(V) was observed, in which 1.05% mol of Zn doped into Fe₃O₄ showed the best photocatalytic performance. The proposed mechanism of photocatalytic activity enhancement was also investigated, indicating the introduction Zn content act as a trapping electron-centre resulting in the decreasing in the recombination rate of the photogenerated electron/hole pairs thus improving the photocatalytic performance. Photocatalytic tests were presented also in real groundwater and complete oxidation of As(III) to As(V) by 1.05 Zn doped Fe₃O₄ photocatalyst was achieved in 180 min under visible light irradiation.

KEYWORDS:

• Microporous
• Zn doped Fe₃O₄
• the photo-oxidation
• arsenic removal
• groundwater

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the support provided by Environmental Institute, Viet Nam Maritime University, Hai Phong, Viet Nam.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.