Preparation of Iron Oxalate from Iron Ore and Its Application in Photocatalytic Rhodamine B Degradation

In this study, iron oxalate dihydrate (FOD-ore) was produced from ore by the process using oxalic acid to extract iron, followed photo-reduction. Several techniques, such as X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Raman, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-Ray analysis (SEM-EDX), ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-DRS), photoluminescence (PL), and photoelectron (XPS), were used determine physicochemical properties of FOD-ore sample. To compare photocatalytic activity FOD-ore, commercial hematite (Fe2O3) a precursor creating (FOD). The applied degradation rhodamine B (RhB), model organic pollutant in wastewater. Using we able degrade more than 85% RhB within 90 min at rate approximately 1.4 times higher that FOD. demonstrated greater light absorption FOD, resulting improved performance. Moreover, enhanced separation transport photogenerated electron-hole pairs can be attributed increased confirmed results. Therefore, utilized potential photocatalyst for other pollutants under irradiation.