Visible light responsive photocatalytic applications of transition metal (M = Cu, Ni and Co) doped α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles

Transition metal (M = Cu, Ni and Co) doped iron oxide (Fe₂O ₃) nanoparticles with crystallite size in the range of 16-26 nm were successfully prepared by simple co-precipitation technique. The optical, structural and magnetic properties were characterized with UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS), FT-IR, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and vibrational sample magnetometer (VSM) techniques. The surface area was measured by Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by the degradation of Acid Red-27 (AR-27) dye under visible light irradiation. The photocatalytic activity of Cu-Fe₂O₃ was obviously affected by the reaction parameters. The photocatalytic activity of Cu-Fe₂O₃ was found to be higher than that of Fe ₂O_3, Ni-Fe₂O_3, and Co-Fe ₂O_3. Moreover, the photocatalyst could be reused for four times without remarkable loss of its activity.