Photoelectrocatalytic activity of spray deposited Fe2O3/ZnO photoelectrode for degradation of salicylic acid and methyl orange dye under solar radiation

Abstract Fe2O3/ZnO thin films are synthesized onto glass and fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) coated glass substrates by simple spray pyrolysis technique. The effect of ZnO layer on structural, optical, morphological and photocatalytic properties of films has been studied. All synthesized films are polycrystalline having rhombohedral and hexagonal crystal structures for Fe2O3 and ZnO phases respectively. The maximum photoelectrochemical performance [(Isc = 0.884 mA) and (Voc = 980 mV)] has been observed at 60 ml quantity of ZnO solution. Photocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic degradation performances of large area (100 cm2) Fe2O3/ZnO photoelectrode employed for degradation of salicylic acid (SA) and methyl orange (MO) dye under solar light illumination has been studied. It is observed that 80 % of SA and 98 % of MO dye get degraded in 320 min and 80 min respectively. The mineralization of SA and MO dye are studied by measuring chemical oxygen demand (COD) values.