Photoinduced current generation and photocatalytic activity of tio2-fe2o3 nanoparticles coated mwcnts films prepared by sparking process

Abstract

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) and iron oxide (Fe2O3) nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully deposited on multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) films using a low-cost and simple sparking process. The as-deposited film was annealed at 350aC for 2h to improve their crystallinity. The results show the anatase TiO2 and hematite Fe2O3 NPs with the size of 5-10nm are coated on MWCNTs. The bandgap energy of the as-prepared and the annealed films were 2.3eV and 2.7eV. Photocatalytic activity of the annealed films under visible irradiation is greater than the as-prepared films. Moreover, TiO2:Fe2O3 with the ratio of 3:1 was the optimized condition. Interestingly, the relative current of the annealed films increased to 0.75 when increasing the irradiation time for 5h. This result confirmed that the excited electron from photocatalytic activity can be transferred through the MWCNTs. This is an alternative way to produce the electric current from photocatalysis in the future.