Facile synthesis, structural, morphological, photocatalytic and optical properties of CoFe2O4/ZnO hybrid nanostructures

Abstract

This study has been endeavoured to investigate the potential of magnetically separable CoFe2O4–ZnO hybrid nanostructures towards the complete mineralization of organic pollutants. Facile co-precipitation method was performed to obtain CoFe2O4–ZnO nanostructures, which were well characterized. The structure, composition and morphology of the materials were confirmed via XRD, Raman, FESEM, TEM and HRTEM which revealed the successful formation of CoFe2O4–ZnO heterojunctions with particle-like morphology having size in range of 10.4–27.6 nm. The optical properties were studied using PL and DRS whereas UV–visible spectroscopy was utilized for examining photocatalytic performance. The photodegradation property of the prepared nanophotocatalysts was assessed by the decomposition of organic dyes and results showed that CoFe2O4–ZnO nanostructures exhibit highly enhanced performance over pristine CoFe2O4 due to the high light utilization ability and heterojunction formation which delays the charge carrier recombination and improves the photodecomposition capability. Additionally, the novel photocatalyst recycled well up to four consecutive degradation cycles and photocatalytic mechanism supported by scavenger experiments was also proposed. This study provides sunlight responsive magnetically separable CoFe2O4–ZnO photocatalyst which efficiently achieves the goal of rapid purification wastewater.