Effect of interfaces in photocatalytic performance of Fe2O3@ZnO core–shell nanoparticles and Fe2O3–ZnO nanocomposites

Abstract

Fe₂O₃@ZnO core–shell nanoparticles were synthesized in spherical and spindle shape and their performance in rhodamine B degradation was investigated. The average diameter of nanoparticles for the spherical samples was 47 and 28 nm, and for the spindle-shaped sample was 19 nm. By increasing the thickness of the ZnO shell in core–shell samples, the amount of absorption increases in both regions. The amount of absorption in the spindle-shaped samples was much higher than that of the spherical samples. The optical gap for spherical nanoparticles was 2.63 and 2.79 and for spindle shaped nanoparticles it was 3.07 eV. Finally, photocatalytic performance of Fe₂O₃@ZnO core–shell nanoparticles and Fe₂O₃–ZnO nanocomposites with ratios of (5:95), (10:90), (20:80) and (30:70) in degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) was investigated. The Fe₂O₃–ZnO nanocomposite (10:90) with 97% degradation of RhB in 180 min showed much better photocatalytic performance than the other nanocomposites and core–shell nanoparticles.