Facile synthesis of Fe2O3 nanoparticles from Egyptian insecticide cans for efficient photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and crystal violet dyes

Abstract In this study, Fe 2 O 3 (hematite) nanoparticles with different crystallite sizes (40–59 nm) were synthesized from Egyptian insecticide cans using the combustion method. The organic fuels were urea, glycine, L-alanine, and L-valine. Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles were characterized utilizing different devices such as BET, PL, FT-IR, XRD, HR-TEM, FE-SEM, UV–Vis, and DTG. Crystal violet (CV) and methylene blue (MB) dyes were efficiently removed from aqueous solution by photocatalytic degradation under UV irradiation in the presence of Fe 2 O 3 and H 2 O 2 . The % degradation of 50 mL crystal violet or methylene blue dye (20 mg/L) using 0.1 g Fe 2 O 3 in the presence of H 2 O 2 was 100% after 30 or 40 min, respectively. Also, the degradation processes are fitted well with the first order model. Besides, the photocatalytic activity of Fe 2 O 3 unaltered even after it was reused three times. Hence, the synthesized Fe 2 O 3 nanoparticles can be considered a promising and efficient photocatalyst for the degradation of crystal violet and methylene blue dyes.