Eco-friendly and solar light-active Ti-FeO ellipsoidal capsules' nanostructure for removal of herbicides and organic dyes.

In this work, Ti-doped FeO with hollow ellipsoidal capsules nanostructure has been prepared in a green manner using plant extract (flax seed). This new green hematite nanomaterial has been evaluated as photocatalyst for water treatment by testing its activity for degradation of bromophenol blue dye (BPB) and 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) herbicide. For a better understanding of the green material properties, a comparison with the pristine FeO nanospheres previously prepared by the same procedure is included. Structural and optical properties of the green prepared materials are studied. The results revealed the success doping of Ti at Fe site, without forming any of TiO phases. It was also found that the Ti doping resulted in the reduction of the band gap of FeO as well as changing the morphology. The Ti-doped FeO nanomaterial exhibited an enhanced photocatalytic activity either for BPB dye or for 2,4-D degradation with more than 2 times higher rate than that using pristine FeO.