Enhancement of Photocatalytic Rhodamine B Degradation over Magnesium–Manganese Baring Extracted Iron Oxalate from Converter Slag

In this work, iron oxalate from converter slag (FeOX-Slag) was produced by extraction of iron from converter slag using oxalic acid, followed by photo-reduction. The FeOX-Slag sample was subjected to various characterization techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-DRS), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), X-ray absorption near-edge structure spectroscopy (XANES), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), in order to gain insights into its physicochemical properties. Also, to compare the photocatalytic activity of the FeOX-Slag, commercial iron oxide (Fe2O3) was used as a precursor to produce normal iron oxalate (FeOX-Fe2O3). The obtained FeOX-Slag was applied to the photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B (RhB), a model organic contaminant in wastewater, compared with the FeOX-Fe2O3. Using the produced FeOX-Slag, we were able to degrade RhB more than 98% within 90 min at a reaction rate constant of about 3.6 times faster than FeOX-Fe2O3. Photoluminescence results confirmed the less recombination of the electron–hole pairs in FeOX-Slag, compared to FeOX-Fe2O3, which may be due to the defect structure of iron oxalate by guest metal impurities. The higher separation and transportation of photogenerated electron–hole pairs cause the enhancement of the degradation photocatalytic RhB degradation activity of the FeOX-Slag. In addition, The FeOX-Slag showed higher light absorption ability than FeOX-Fe2O3, resulting in the enhancement of the RhB degradation performance. Thus, the optical properties and the results from the activity tests led to the proposal that FeOX-Slag may be used in a photocatalytic degradation process for RhB under light irradiation.