Photo-Fenton catalytic ability of iron-containing aluminosilicate glass prepared by sol-gel method

Glass samples with composition xFe2O3・yAl2O3・(100-x-y)SiO2 abbreviated as xFyAS for photo-Fenton catalyst were prepared by a sol-gel method and heat-treated at 1000 °C for 100 min. It was found that when alumina was added to the Fe2O3 + SiO2 glass matrix, the photo-Fenton activity tested with methylene blue degradation increased, so did the photoactivity with visible light. From Mössbauer and XRD results, it was noticed that hercynite phase appeared that showed higher photoactivity even for the samples having lower hematite content and that the Fe+3 (Td) content increased with Al2O3 content. In these samples, the more Fe+3 (Td) found, the more effective was the photo-Fenton degradation.