Preparation and Photocatalytic Performance of Iron Oxide-Pillared Layered Tantalum–Tungsten Acid

Abstract

Using trirutile-structure layered tantalum–tungsten acid as the layered host, [Formula: see text]-propylamin as the pre-swelling agent and aqueous solution of [Fe3(CH3COO)7(OH)(H2O)]NO3 as the pillaring solution, oligomeric polyhydroxyacetato-Fe(III) species-intercalated layered HTaWO6 was synthesized by a stepwise ion-exchange way at room temperature. Upon calcining at 673[Formula: see text]K in air atmosphere, iron oxide-pillared layered HTaWO6with nanoscale interlayer distance (denoted as Fe2O3-HTaWO[Formula: see text] was obtained. A series of Fe2O3-HTaWO6 samples with various Fe contents were prepared by using different volume of Fe(III)-pillaring solution. The layered intermediates obtained at each stage of the ions-exchange process and the final layered products were characterized by powder XRD, FT-IR, DR UV-Vis and SEM techniques. The photocatalytic performance of the Fe2O3-pillared layered HTaWO6 samples for degradation of rhodamine B was investigated. Compared with un-pillared layered HTaWO6, the Fe2O3-pillared layered HTaWO6 exhibited a significantly-improved photo-absorption performance and an enhanced photocatalytic activity. The Fe2O3-HTaWO6 sample with 5.8% (wt) iron showed the best catalytic performance in the photodegradation reaction of rhodamine B.