Algae derived N-doped mesoporous carbon nanoflakes fabricated with nickel ferrite for photocatalytic removal of Congo Red and Rhodamine B dyes

Abstract

A hydrothermal approach was employed to synthesize nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4) nanoparticles and its composite (NiFe2O4–NCF) with N-doped mesoporous carbon nanoflakes (NCF) where NCF acts as the catalytic support. The N-doped carbon nanoflakes were derived by pyrolyzing algae under Nitrogen atmosphere. These prepared materials were later probed with XRD, FESEM, TEM, BET, VSM, PL and UV–Vis spectrophotometry for their structural, morphological, magnetic and optical properties. The materials were used as photocatalysts to degrade two harmful textile dyes viz. Congo Red (CR) and Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light at room temperature. Under optimized conditions, the pristine NiFe2O4 nanoparticle could degrade 95.34% and 98.24% CR and RhB respectively within 70 min while, the NiFe2O4–NCF nanocomposite showed degradation efficiency of 96.51% and 98.83% within 40 and 35 min of light irradiation respectively for CR and RhB dyes. The radical scavenging experiments indicated that electron and hole are the main reacting species that initiate the degradation of the dyes against the catalyst.