Fabrication and Sterilization Characteristics of Coal Tar Pitch Based TiO2/α-Fe2O3/CTPC-SAC with Natural Light Sterilization Performance

TiO2 as a semiconductor photocatalyst has been extensively utilized in the purifications of water and air. However, the wide band gap of TiO2 necessitates its activation by ultraviolet irradiation, when it is utilized as a photocatalyst. To enhance the photocatalyst performance of TiO2, constructing the heterojunction containing TiO2 is considered as a highly effective method. To unfold the actual application, iron metal oxides are firstly utilized to construct the heterojunction of TiO2/α-Fe2O3, and the synthesized TiO2/α-Fe2O3 heterojunction was successfully coated on the surface of coal tar pitch based spherical activated carbons (CTP-SACs). The structures of TiO2/α-Fe2O3/CTP-SACs are verified by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results of UV-vis absorption spectroscopy supports that TiO2/α-Fe2O3/CTP-SACs are promising candidates for the natural light photoncatalysis. It is believed that the exceptional conductivity of CTP-SACs enhances the activity of the photocatalyst, resulting in the TiO2/α-Fe2O3/CTP-SACs exhibiting remarkable sterilization effects under natural light. For instance, the TiO2/α-Fe2O3-60-CTP-SAC shows an excellent sterilization rate (89 %) for the fish culture water under the irradiation of natural light for 20 min. Associating with the excellent liquidity of CTP-SACs, it is considerable that TiO2/α-Fe2O3/CTP-SACs possess the captivating application prospects in a field of the feeding water treatment.