Fabrication of magnetic heterocomposite of graphene supported CoFe2O4/BiVO4 and exploration of photocatalytic and antibacterial activities

Abstract

The exploitation of synergistic effect in heterocomposites is emerging as an effective technique for the enhancement in the physical, chemical and catalytic properties of different materials. In the present paper, CoFe2O4, BiVO4, and graphene supported CoFe2O4/BiVO4 heterocomposite were synthesized by hydrothermal methodology. The X-ray diffraction confirmed the successful formation of the heterocomposite. The rough surface of FE-SEM images along with EDS images indicated the successful incorporation of CoFe2O4 and BiVO4 nanoparticles on the surface of graphene. The optical band gap deduced from UV–Vis spectra was observed to be 2.38 eV suggesting the good photocatalytic activity of the heterocomposite. An excellent performance of graphene supported CoFe2O4/BiVO4 heterocomposite was observed for the photocatalytic removal of Fast Sulphone Black dye (93.82%) in comparison to pure CoFe2O4 (52.65%), BiVO4 (42.45%) and CoFe2O4/BiVO4 (82%). The synergistic effect of CoFe2O4 and BiVO4 resulted in higher degradation of the dye. The OH radical has been identified as major reactive species using radical scavenging experiment. The heterocomposite displayed improved and easy separation from reaction mixture with significant recycle efficiency for 6 successive catalytic cycles. Further, the antimicrobial activity of the composite was studied and the graphene supported CoFe2O4/BiVO4 was found to exhibit good antimicrobial activity against E. coli and S. Aureus bacteria.