Accepted Manuscript

Title: Hydrothermal synthesis of ␣-Fe2 O3 /g-C3 N4 composite

and its efficient photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) under
visible light

Author: Dong Xiao Ke Dai Yang Qu Yeping Yin Hao Chen

PII: S0169-4332(15)02136-4
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2015.09.042
Reference: APSUSC 31256

To appear in: APSUSC

Received date: 20-6-2015

Revised date: 1-9-2015
Accepted date: 3-9-2015

Please cite this article as:

D. Xiao, K. Dai, </sup>,Yang
Qu,Y.Yin,H.Chen,Hydrothermalsynthesisofrmalpha−Fe
2 O3 /g-C3 N4 composite and its efficient
photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) under visible light, Applied Surface Science (2015),
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2015.09.042

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 Hydrothermal synthesis of α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite and its

efficient photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) under visible light

Dong Xiao1,2, Ke Dai1∗,Yang Qu2, Yeping Yin2, Hao Chen2*

1
College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, P R China

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2
College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, P R China

cr
α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composites were fabricated by a facile hydrothermal method. The prepared

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composites were characterized by XRD, XPS, TEM, DRS, PL and photoelectrochemical measurement.

Under visible light irradiation, α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite displays higher photocatalytic activity than

pure g-C3N4 and α-Fe2O3 for Cr(VI) reduction. The enhanced photocatalytic activity should be attributed
an
to the well-matched band structure and intimate contact interfaces between g-C3N4 and α-Fe2O3, which

lead to the effective transfer and separation of the photogenerated charge carriers. The decoration of
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α-Fe2O3 does not affect the morphology and size of g-C3N4. The lower photoluminescence intensity and

higher photocurrent density indicate the effective transfer and separation of photogenerated charge
d

carriers. α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite shows more intense optical absorption compared with pure g-C3N4.
e

The addition of hole scavengers can greatly facilitate the photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) and the
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α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite shows excellent stability during the photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI).

1. Introduction
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Heavy metal pollution is one of the most serious environmental problems in the world. Cr(VI), a major

contaminant in wastewaters arising from different industries, can greatly threaten human health. In
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contrast, Cr(III) plays an important role in human and plant metabolism. Therefore, reducing Cr(VI) to

Cr(III) is an effective way to decrease the harm of Cr(VI) to the environment and human body[1-3]. Until

now, a number of techniques have been used for the removal of Cr(VI) from waste water, such as

chemical precipitation, membrane nanofiltration, ion exchange and photocatalytic reduction. Among

them, photocatalytic reduction is considered as one of the most attractive methods because of its

acceptable cost, quite easy operation and high safety[4,5].

                                                                 
∗
Corresponding author. Tel: +86-27-8767-1033; Fax: +86-27-8728-2137.
E-mail address: dk@mail.hzau.edu.cn (K. Dai),hchenhao@mail.hzau.edu.cn(H. Chen)

Page 1 of 19
 Several materials have been developed for the photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) under ultraviolet

and visible light irradiation, such as TiO2, Bi nanowire, ZnO and CdS[6-9]. However, many

photocatalysts contain heavy metal elements and cannot be excited by visible light irradiation, this

greatly limits their application. Graphite–like carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has been considered as a

“sustainable” photocatalyst due to its visible light activity, chemical and thermodynamics stability and

no heavy metal elements, also it exhibits high photocatalytic performance for hydrogen production and

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organic pollutants degradation[10-12]. However the relatively low quantum efficiency of pure g-C3N4

still limits its practical application due to the fast recombination of photogenerated charge carriers[13,14].

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To resolve this problem, many attempts have been conducted to improve the photocatalytic performance

of g-C3N4, such as element doping, morphology controlling and coupling with other

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semiconductors[15-18]. α-Fe2O3 has high absorption (around 43%) in the red region of visible light in

solar spectrum. These properties ofα-Fe2O3 makes it a good candidate for coupling with g-C3N4 and
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improving its catalytic activities for the photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI)[19,20]. Recently,

α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite was synthesised by calcination[21]. However, α-Fe2O3 in the

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α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite was easily agglomerated and not uniformly dispersed, which may reduce the

contact area between α-Fe2O3 and g-C3N4, thus the photocatalytic activity will be retarded.
d

In this study, we fabricated α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite by a one-step hydrothermal method and

e

explored its application in the photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) under visible light (λ≥400 nm). The
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effects of α-Fe2O3 content in the composite, reaction pH and hole scavenger on the photocatalytic

reduction of Cr(VI) were studied.

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2. Experimental
All the chemicals are of analytic grade without further purification. FeCl3·6H2O, H2NCONH2 and
Ac

CH3COONa were purchased from Sinopharm Chemical Reagent Co. Ltd.

2.1 Synthesis of photocatalysts

g-C3N4 was synthesized as literature published before[22]. Briefly, a certain amount of urea was put

into a crucible with a cover and heated at 600 for 4h with a heating rate of 5 /min. The yellowish

product was collected and grounded into powder. α-Fe2O3 was synthesized by a hydrothermal method.

0.546 g FeCl3·6H2O was dissolved in a mixture solution with 20 ml absolutely ethyl alcohol and 1.4 ml

deionized water, stirring for 30 min, then adding 1.6 g CH3COONa and stirring for another 30 min. The

mixture was transferred into a Teflon-lined stainless autoclave (50ml) and maintained at 180℃ for 12h.

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The obtained products were washed with deionized water and alcohol for three times and freeze drying.

α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite was prepared by a hydrothermal method. In detail, 1.7 mg of FeCl3·6H2O

was dissolved in 20ml absolutely ethyl alcohol, then added 100mg g-C3N4 and sonicated for 1h. After

that 1.4 ml deionized water and 5 mg CH3COONa were added and stirring for 30min. Then the mixture

was transferred into a Teflon-lined stainless autoclave (50ml) and maintained at 180℃ for 12h. The

obtained product was washed with deionized water and alcohol for three times and freeze drying. The

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as-synthesized α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composites with 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 3 wt% of α-Fe2O3 were labelled as

α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, respectively.

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2.2 Characterization

X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns were collected on a Bruker D8 Advance X-ray diffractometer with

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Cu Kα radiation. The morphologies and microstructure of the samples were analyzed by transmission

electron microscope (TEM, HITACHI H-7650) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy
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(HRTEM, JEOL JEM-2010F). The UV-vis diffuse reflectance absorption spectra (DRS) were recorded

on a Cary 5000 UV-vis-NIR spectrophotometer equipped with an integrating sphere using BaSO4 as a
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reference. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements were recorded at room temperature using

Fluoromax-4 spectrofluorometer. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurement was

d

carried out in a VG Multilab 2000 electron spectrometer. The photocurrents were measured on an
e

electrochemical system (CHI-660D, China). BET surface areas were conducted by nitrogen
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adsorption-desorption method at 77K (Micromeritics Tristar ASAP 2020).

2.3 Photocatalytic reaction

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The photocatalytic activities of all synthesized catalysts was evaluated by the reduction of Cr(VI)

under visible light irradiation (λ≥ 400 nm). The Cr(VI) solution (10 mg/L) was prepared by dissolving
Ac

K2Cr2O7 in deionized water. The photocatalyst (100 mg) was dispersed in 50 ml Cr(VI) solution and

adjusted its pH by HCl (0.1 mol/L) or NaOH (0.1 mol/L), then stirred for 30 minutes under dark

conditions to reach adsorption-desorption equilibrium. Then the mixed suspension was exposed to a

300 W Xe lamp. At certain time intervals (30 min), 2 ml of mixed suspension was withdrawn and

centrifuged to separate the photocatalyst. The diphenylcarbazide photometric method was used to

analyze Cr(VI) concentration at 540 nm by a spectrophotometer[7].

2.4 Photoelectrochemical measurements

Photocurrent measurements were performed on CHI 660D electrochemical work station (Chenhua

Page 3 of 19
Instrument, Shanghai, China) in a conventional three electrode configuration with a Pt foil as the

counter electrode and a Ag/AgCl (saturated KCl) as the reference electrode. A 300 W Xe lamp severed

as a light source (λ≥ 400 nm). A 0.1mol/L Na2SO4 aqueous solution was used as the electrolyte. The

working electrodes were prepared as follows: 10mg of the prepared photocatalyst and 0.5 ml nafion

dispersing reagent were added in 5ml absolute ethyl alcohol, sonicated for 30 minutes. The slurry was

then spread on a 2.5 cm × 1.0 cm indium-tin oxide (ITO) glass substrate and dried in air. The

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photoresponses of the samples as light on and off were measured at 0.0 V.

3. Results and discussion

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3.1 Structure and properties characterization

Fig. 1 shows the XRD patterns of α-Fe2O3, g-C3N4 and α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composites. XRD pattern of

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pure g-C3N4 shows two distinct peaks located at 13.0o and 27.4o, which are indexed to the (100) and

(102) diffraction planes of g-C3N4 (JCPDS 87-1526). The two pronounced peaks corresponded to the
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interlayer stacking peak of aromatic systems and the in-plane structural packing motif of tri-s-triazine

units[23]. No obvious diffraction peaks of α-Fe2O3 species are detected for α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.25, 0.5, 1,
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which is because of the relatively low contents of α-Fe2O3, as the contents of α-Fe2O3 increase to 2 and

3 wt%, the diffraction peaks of α-Fe2O3 are visible. The main characteristic peaks of α-Fe2O3 appeared
d

at 33.2o, 35.5o and 54.1o can be indexed to the (104), (110) and (116) crystal planes of α-Fe2O3 (JCPDS
e

33-0664)[24]. The sharp diffraction peaks show that the obtained products are well crystallized and no
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impurity peak is found in the composites.

The morphologies and microstructures of pure g-C3N4 and α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.5 were characterized
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by TEM and HRTEM. The pure g-C3N4 sample displays a wrinkle two-dimensional nanosheet structure
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(Fig. 2a). The TEM image of α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.5 composite shows that the α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles are

well dispersed on the surface of the g-C3N4 nanosheets with an average size of 50 nm (Fig. 2b), the

well decoration of α-Fe2O3 can decrease the aggregation of bulk g-C3N4 nanosheets[25]. The HRTEM

image demonstrates that the interplanar spacing is about 0.36 nm (Fig. 2c), corresponding to the (012)

plane of α-Fe2O3. The result of HRTEM image shows a close interface between g-C3N4 and α-Fe2O3,

indicating the formation of α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite. The intimate contact between g-C3N4 and

Page 4 of 19
α-Fe2O3 is beneficial to the separation and transfer of photogenerated charge carriers.

Fig. 3a displays the UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra of the g-C3N4 and α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4

composites with different α-Fe2O3 contents. Pure g-C3N4 has an absorption edge at about 440nm

corresponding to the band gap of 2.84eV. The band gaps were estimated from the intercept of the

tangents to the plots of (αhν)1/2 vs. photon energy, as shown in Fig. 3b. The band gaps of

t
α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 3 are 2.79, 2.74, 2.67, 2.62, 2.54 eV, respectively, the band gaps tend to

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become narrower with the increase of α-Fe2O3 content. It is noteworthy that the α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4

composites show more intense absorption compared with pure g-C3N4and star to shift significantly to

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long wavelength, while the colour of samples shift from yellowish to light red. These results imply that

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the visible light response of the photocatalysts is improved by loading α-Fe2O3 on g-C3N4 nanosheets,

which may enhance the photocatalytic activity by generate more photogenerated charge carriers.

an
To investigate the combination of g-C3N4 and α-Fe2O3 in the α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite,

α-Fe2O3 and α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 were characterized by XPS. The binding energies of C 1s at 284.6, 288,

289.1 eV are found to be sp2 hybridized C atoms in C-C, C=N and C=O, respectively (Fig. 4a),
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which can be ascribed to defect-containing sp2 hybridized carbon atoms present in graphitic

domains and pure graphitic sites in a CN matrix[26, 27]. The binding energies of N 1s at 398.5,
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399.7, 400.9 eV are assigned to be sp2 hybridized N atoms in C=N, sp3 hybridized N atoms in
e

C-[N]3 and C-NHX, respectively (Fig. 4b). Fig. 4c shows the high resolution O 1s spectrum with
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binding energies of 531.9 and 528.1 eV, which are found to be sp2 hybridized O atoms in C=O and
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lattice oxygen in α-Fe2O3. However, the binding energy of lattice oxygen in pure α-Fe2O3 was 529.8

eV (Fig. 4e), there is a negative shift of 1.7 eV for binding energy of lattice oxygen in

α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 compared with that of pure α-Fe2O3.As shown in Fig. 4d, the peaks of Fe 2p are at
Ac

709.5 and 722.3 eV, which can be found to be the Fe 2p3/2 and Fe 2p1/2. As shown in Fig. 4f, the

binding energies of Fe2p in pure α-Fe2O3 were 710.3 and 723.7 eV[28]. The shift of Fe 2p to low

banding energy is probably due to the formation of Fe-N, which enhances the electron density on Fe

as a consequence of relatively small electronegativity of N compared with O, indicating that the

chemical bonding between two components is probably formed instead of a physical mixture[29].

The surface areas of all the samples were measured by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method

at 77K. For pure α-Fe2O3 and g-C3N4, the surface areas are 28.72 m2/g and 86.28 m2/g. When α-Fe2O3

Page 5 of 19
was loaded, the surface areas for α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 3 are 71.61, 77.58, 79.73, 65.67, and

67.47 m2/g, respectively. All the composites show smaller surface areas compared with pure g-C3N4,

this is due to the low surface area of α-Fe2O3. There are only small variations for g-C3N4 and

α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composites. Therefore, the surface area may not be the dominate factor on the

photocatalytic activity of α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite.

3.2 Photocatalytic activity of α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composites

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Photocatalytic reduction experiments of Cr(VI) over g-C3N4, α-Fe2O3 and α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.25, 0.5, 1,

2, 3 composites were performed under visible light irradiation (λ≥400 nm) (Fig. 5). The

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α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.5 composite shows the highest photocatalytic activity and 98% Cr(VI) is reduced

after 150 minutes, which is 2.4 times and 1.8 times higher than that of pure g-C3N4 and α-Fe2O3.

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α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composites with higher or lower α-Fe2O3 contents both show lower photocatalytic

activity. This is because the excess α-Fe2O3 may act as a recombination centre, covering the active sites
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on the g-C3N4 surface and therefore reducing the efficiency of charge separation. If the content of

α-Fe2O3 is too less, the contact areas between α-Fe2O3 and g-C3N4 will decrease, which may also
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influence the efficiency charge separation.

As pH strongly affects the photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI), the effect of pH was studied in the
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range 2-10 with α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.5 composite. Increasing pH will reduce the photocatalytic reduction
e

rate of Cr(VI) (Fig. 6 ). At low pH, Cr(VI) species exists as HCrO4-, as the pH increasing HCrO4-
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transfers to Cr2O72-. What’s more, at low pH the surface of photocatalysts becomes highly protonated

and more positive for better accumulation of HCrO4- ions. At higher pH, the surface of photocatalysts
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becomes more negative, which tends to repel the Cr2O72- ions and hence decreases the photocatalytic

reduction rate of Cr(VI)[30]. To better understand the effects of hole scavengers to the photocatalytic
Ac

reduction of Cr(VI), citric acid and oxalic acid were added in the suspension (Fig. 7). The addition of

citric acid and oxalic acid greatly improved the photocatalytic reduction ability of Cr(VI), 99% Cr(VI)

was reduced in 15 minutes in the presence of citric acid and 97% Cr(VI) was reduced in 20 minutes in

the presence of oxalic acid. The enhanced photocatalytic activity may be because citric acid and oxalic

acid can be absorbed on the surface of photocatalyst and are easily oxidized by the photogenerated

holes, thus reduce the recombination of photogenerated holes and electrons.

The stability of photocatalyst is an important issue for their practical application. To study the

stability of α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite, the circulating runs in the photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) in

Page 6 of 19
the presence of α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.5 composite under visible light irradiation was examined (Fig. 8). In

this work, α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.5 was recycled four times for the same photocatalytic reaction. After 150

minutes irradiation in each cycle, the photocatalyst was separated from the aqueous suspension by

filtration, washed with deionized water and freeze drying. As shown in Fig. 7, there is no significant

decrease in reduction rate after four cycles. At the end of the reaction, only 0.5 mg/L iron ions was

found in the solution, indicating that the iron leaching from α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite is insignificant

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compared with the content of α-Fe2O3 (0.5 wt%). It means that α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite has a good

photostability and chemical stability and α-Fe2O3 modification can largely increase the chemical

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stability of g-C3N4.

3.3 Photocatalytic reduction mechanism of Cr(VI) over α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.5 composite

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When α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4composite is exposed to visible light irradiation, excitation of electrons

occurs from its valence band to conduction band. At the conduction band of α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4, the
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photogenerated electrons (e-) are utilized for reducing Cr(VI) to Cr(III). The photoreduction of Cr(VI)

may follow the one-charge-transfer steps mechanism[31].

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e‐ e‐ e‐
Cr(VI) Cr(V) Cr(IV) Cr(III)
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As photoreduction of Cr(VI) has been carried out at low concentration, Cr(VI) may be presented in
e

its CrO42- form. At pH = 2, photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) over the photocatalyst can be described
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by the following equations:

Photocatalyst +hν e(CB)- + h(VB)+

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CrO42- + 8H+ + 3e(CB)- Cr3+ + 4H2O

h(VB)+ + H2O ( or sacrifice agent) ·OH+ O2

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Fig. 9 shows the room temperature PL spectra of α-Fe2O3, g-C3N4 and α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composites.

The excitation wavelengths were 265 nm for α-Fe2O3, 325 nm for g-C3N4 and α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4

composites. The main emission bands are centred at 450 nm for g-C3N4 and α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4

composites. The emission peaks of α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composites are much weaker than that of pure

g-C3N4, indicating that the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs is efficiently hampered.

The α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.5 shows the weakest intensity, meaning the better separation of photogenerated

charge carriers, which is consistent with the photocatalytic reduction result[32,33]. No obvious

emission peak of α-Fe2O3 is observed as the intensity of α-Fe2O3 is much weaker than pure g-C3N4 and

Page 7 of 19
α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composites.

Fig. 10 shows the photocurrent transient response for the electrodes of pure g-C3N4, α-Fe2O3 and

α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.5 composite under visible light irradiation (λ≥ 400 nm). Pure g-C3N4 and α-Fe2O3

show lower photocurrent density, which is attributed to the fast recombination of photogenerated

electrons and holes in g-C3N4 and α-Fe2O3[34-36]. The α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.5 composite shows higher

photocurrent densities, indicating the efficient photogenerated charge transfer between g-C3N4 and

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α-Fe2O3. The PL and PEC results confirm the superior charge transfer and recombination inhibition in

α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.5 composite, these are agreement with the enhanced photocatalytic activity.

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On the basis of the above experiments and results, the mechanism for the enhanced photocatalytic

activity is illustrated in Fig. 11. Under visible light irradiation, both g-C3N4 and α-Fe2O3 can be excited

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and produce photogenerated electron-hole pairs. The conduction band (CB) position of g-C3N4 (-1.27

eV vs. NHE) is more negative than that of α-Fe2O3 (+0.32 eV vs. NHE), and the valence band (VB)
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position of α-Fe2O3 (+2.52 eV vs. NHE) is more positive than g-C3N4 (+1.57 eV vs. NHE)[37].

Therefore, the photogenerated electrons on the surface of g-C3N4 can readily transfer to the CB of
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α-Fe2O3. Thus, the recombination of photogenerated holes and electrons can be inhibited, leading to a

remarkable enhancement of the photocatalytic activity.

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Conclusion
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In summary, α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles have been grown in-situ on g-C3N4 nanosheets through a
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one-step hydrothermal method. The α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles are uniformly dispersing on the surface of

g-C3N4 nanosheets with an average size of 50 nm and the introduction of α-Fe2O3 does not affect the
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morphology and size of g-C3N4.What’s more, no aggregation of α-Fe2O3 is observed and only a small

content of α-Fe2O3 (0.5 wt%) is required to achieve the best photocatalytic activity of α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4
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composite. The combination of α-Fe2O3 and g-C3N4 is further indicated by XPS, apparent peak shifts of

Fe 2p and O 1s are observed. Under visible light irradiation, α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite displays higher

photocatalytic activity than pure g-C3N4 and α-Fe2O3 for the photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI). The

enhanced photocatalytic activity of α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 is ascribed to the efficient charge separation and

transfer on the interface between g-C3N4 and α-Fe2O3, which is confirmed by the lower

photoluminescence intensity and higher photocurrent density. α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite with high

photocatalytic activity could be beneficial to practical application to reduce Cr(VI) from waste water.

Page 8 of 19
Acknowledgments
The research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China

(21307035, 51572101) and the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities of China

(2013PY112, 2662015PY047).

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α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 nanocomposites, RSC Advances 4 (2014) 38222-38229.

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structure-controlled graphitic carbon nitride, Angewandte ChemieInternational Edition 53

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Fig. 1 XRD patterns of α-Fe2O3 (a), g-C3N4 (b) and α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 3 composites (c-g).
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Fig. 2 TEM images of g-C3N4 (a), α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.5 composite (b) and HRTEM image of
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α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.5 composite (c).

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Fig. 3 UV-vis spectra of α-Fe2O3, g-C3N4 and α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composites

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Fig. 4 XPS spectra of α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.5 composite: (a) C 1s, (b) N 1s, (c) O 1s, (d) Fe 2p3/2; α-Fe2O3: (e)

O 1s, (f) Fe 2p

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Fig. 5 Photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) by g-C3N4, α-Fe2O3 andα-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composites
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Fig. 6 Effects of pH on the rate of Cr(VI) photoreduction, time = 150 min

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Fig. 7 Effects of hole scavengers to the photoreduction of Cr(VI) (α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.5 dosage = 100mg,

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pH = 2, Cr(VI) = 10 mg/L, citric acid and oxalic acid dosage = 0.48 mmol/L)
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Fig. 8 Cycling runs for the photoreduction of Cr(VI) by α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.5 composite.

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Fig. 9 PL spectra of α-Fe2O3, g-C3N4 and α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composites.
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Fig. 10 Photocurrents of g-C3N4, α-Fe2O3 and α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4-0.5 composite.

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Fig. 11 Proposed mechanism for photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) over α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 composite

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α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles have been grown in-suit on the surface of g-C3N4 nanosheets.
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α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 shows enhanced photocatalytic activity for Cr(VI) reduction.

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Z-Scheme of α-Fe2O3/g-C3N4 facilitates the separation and transfer of electron-hole.

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