Suarez, LauraDong, HuiyuPulgarin, CesarSanjines, RosendoQiang, ZhiminKiwi, John2016-07-192016-07-192016-07-19201610.1016/j.apcata.2016.03.029https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/127610WOS:000376700400008This study reports an innovative preparation polyethylene-FeOx (PE-FeOx films) leading to the degradation of the methylene blue (MB) dye under low intensity sunlight/visible light (>400 nm). The intermediate highly oxidative radicals generated by PE-FeOx leading to MB discoloration/degradation in the presence of H2O2 were identified. The relative contribution to the MB discoloration by the Fe ions leached from the PE-FeOx films into solution was determined quantitatively. This allows estimating the contribution of the heterogeneous and of the homogeneous leading to MB-degradation. The shift in the peak binding energy (BE) for Fe was detected by photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) after the MB degradation providing the evidence for redox catalysis occurring during MB-degradation at the PE-FeOx surface. The particle size and roughness of the PE-FeOx surfaces were determined by atomic force spectroscopy (AFM). The spectral properties of PE-FeOx films are reported and insight is provided for the mechanism of MB-degradation. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.PE-FeOx synthesisMB-discolorationVisible lightXPSAFMXRDRepetitive MB degradationH2O2Heterogeneous catalysisROS diffusion distancestext::journal::journal article::research article