Fe3+-Doped TiO2 Nanotube Arrays on Ti-Fe Alloys for Enhanced Photoelectrocatalytic Activity

Highly ordered, vertically oriented Fe3+-doped TiO2 nanotube arrays (Fe-TNTs) were prepared on Ti-Fe alloy substrates with different Fe contents by the electrochemical anodization method. The as-prepared Fe-TNTs were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and related electrochemical techniques. XPS results demonstrated that Fe3+ ions were successfully doped into TiO2 nanotubes. The photoelectrochemical activity of Fe-TNTs was compared with that of pure TiO2 nanotube arrays (TNTs). The results showed that Fe-TNTs grown on low concentration (0.5 wt %–1 wt % Fe) Ti-Fe alloys possessed higher photocurrent density than TNTs. The Fe-TNTs grown on Ti-Fe alloy containing 0.8 wt % Fe exhibited the highest photoelectrochemical activity and the photoelectrocatalytic degradation rate of methylene blue (MB) aqueous solution was significantly higher than that of TNTs.