EUROPEAN CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION ON ADVANCED MATERIALS AND PROCESSES - EUROMAT 2021

In this contribution, we address the deposition of iron oxide thin films with different composition and morphology, through RF-sputtering of an iron target in argon/oxygen plasma mixtures, and their application as catalyst for photo-Fenton water remediation. Nanostructured iron films deposited in pure argon were converted to Fe2O3 upon thermal annealing in oxygen atmosphere, obtaining different morphologies depending on the thickness. These nanostructured materials resulted to be efficient catalysts for the photo-Fenton degradation of methylene blue dye (photodegradation percentage up to 90%). In order to avoid the cost and time consuming annealing step, hematite films were also deposited by deposition in Ar/O2 mixtures, reaching a quite good dye removal efficiency (photodegradation above 80%). In order to increase the photocatalytic performances, double-step deposition processes were also explored. In optimized conditions, a degradation of 97% was accomplished and the reusability of the catalyst was demonstrated.