Enhancement of Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue Dye Using Graphene Oxide Based Ternary Nanocomposite

Abstract

AbstractThe scarcity of pure water, as well as the growing water shortage, highlight the importance of finding an efficient material for wastewater treatment. Treating pollutants present in wastewater is a challenging task so several methods have been developed for the treatment of pollutants present in wastewater. Among all, utilizing graphene based nanocomposite as adsorbent is a good option and can be utilized efficiently for wastewater treatment. In this work graphene oxide (GO) based ternary nanocomposite was synthesized via the co‐precipitation method and utilized for the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye. Powder X‐ray Diffraction (PXRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscope (HRTEM), UV‐vis Diffuse Reflectance Spectra (DRS), Brunauer‐ Emmett & Teller (BET) method, and UV‐Vis spectroscopy were used to investigate the formation of GO‐TiO2‐Fe2O3 (GTF) nanocomposites and the effect of graphene oxide addition on the photophysical properties of the composite. XRD data confirmed the high crystallinity of the obtained ternary nanocomposite. HRTEM and FESEM instruments confirmed the shape and morphology of the GTF nanocomposite which were found to be spherical with an average particle size of 20–80 nm. The photocatalytic degradation of the ternary composite was examined using MB as a model dye. The efficiency of the GTF nanocomposite was examined and compared with GO‐TiO2‐Fe2O3‐GG (GTF‐GG) and GO. The degradation efficiency of GTF‐GG, GTF, and GO was found to be 89.82 %, 77.34 % and 58.15 % within 270 min respectively. The prepared nanocomposite may be a promising material for the photocatalytic degradation of dye effluent present in wastewater.