Fabrication and Sterilization Characteristics of Coal Tar Pitch Based TiO₂/α-Fe₂O₃/CTPC-SAC with Natural Light Sterilization Performance (Supporting Information)

TiO₂ as a semiconductor photocatalyst has been extensively utilized in the purifications of water and air. However, the wide band gap of TiO₂ necessitates its activation by ultraviolet irradiation, when it is utilized as a photocatalyst. To enhance the photocatalyst performance of TiO₂, constructing the heterojunction containing TiO₂ is considered as a highly effective method. To unfold the actual application, iron metal oxides are firstly utilized to construct the heterojunction of TiO₂/α-Fe₂O₃, and the synthesized TiO₂/α-Fe₂O₃ heterojunction was successfully coated on the surface of coal tar pitch based spherical activated carbons (CTP-SACs). The structures of TiO₂/α-Fe₂O₃/CTP-SACs are verified by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results of UV-vis absorption spectroscopy supports that TiO₂/α-Fe₂O₃/CTP-SACs are promising candidates for the natural light photoncatalysis. It is believed that the exceptional conductivity of CTP-SACs enhances the activity of the photocatalyst, resulting in the TiO₂/α-Fe₂O₃/CTP-SACs exhibiting remarkable sterilization effects under natural light. For instance, the TiO₂/α-Fe₂O₃-60-CTP-SAC shows an excellent sterilization rate (89 %) for the fish culture water under the irradiation of natural light for 20 min. Associating with the excellent liquidity of CTP-SACs, it is considerable that TiO₂/α-Fe₂O₃/CTP-SACs possess the captivating application prospects in a field of the feeding water treatment.