Coupling of Se-ZnFe2O4 with rGO for spatially charged separated nanocomposites as an efficient photocatalyst for degradation of organic pollutants in natural sunlight

Abstract

Water pollution is a major issue nowadays. Textile effluents majorly consist of synthetic dyes whose degradation is quite difficult, and they pollute water by producing toxins through many reactions. Iron nanoparticles are considered the most efficient photocatalysts for the degradation of such toxins. In this paper, the photocatalytic efficiency of Se-ZnFe2O4 @GO and Se-ZnFe2O4 @rGO nanocomposites were checked against MB dye. The graphene oxide (GO) and graphene oxide (rGO) were prepared via modified Hummer’s and solvothermal methods, respectively. While Se-ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles were prepared by sol-gel method and then GO and rGO was embedded on Se-ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles to prepare Se-ZnFe2O4 @GO and Se-ZnFe2O4 @rGO nanocomposites respectively. The prepared nanoparticles and nanocomposites were characterized by various techniques i.e., FTIR, EPR, SEM, XRD, EIS, and UV–vis spectroscopy. Among all the prepared nanoparticles and nanocomposites, the novel Se-ZnFe2O4 @rGO nanocomposites showed 98% degradation of methylene blue after 150 min and thus be considered as an excellent photocatalyst.