Studying the Photocatalytic Activity of Iron Oxides Synthesized by Plasma Dynamic Method

Photoelectrochemical water splitting is an actively developed area of hydrogen energy. It requires the use of highly-active photocatalysts, one of the most promising of which is α-Fe
₂
O
₃
iron oxide. Among all iron oxides modifications, another phase ε-Fe
₂
O
₃
can be potentially used as photocatalysts. However, this phase is difficult to be obtained by most of the known methods. In this work, the plasma dynamic synthesis method is used to obtain both of these phases to study their photocatalytic activity. For this, the synthesis system is improved to reach as highest yield of pointed phases as possible. The obtained nanosized powders with a predominant content of α-Fe
₂
O
₃
and ε-Fe
₂
O
₃
are studied with a three-electrode cell method. Both phases show the quite similar catalytic activity and a high stability.