Integration of 2D graphene oxide sheets with MgFe2O4/ZnO heterojunction for improved photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes and benzoic acid

Abstract

The versatile process of photo-catalysis is used to treat water pollution and other environmental issues. Another way for solving environmental pollution remediation is metal ferrite with a spinel structure, which is widely used as a photocatalyst. In this work, the fabrication of all the materials was followed by using the co-precipitation method, while graphene oxide was prepared by hummer's method. Synthesized samples were characterized by using various techniques like XRD, SEM, UV–visible and FT-IR. For the identification of functional groups FT-IR was used. Surface morphology was determined by SEM. The band gap was calculated with the help of the Tauc plot. Methyl orange, crystal violet (as coloured dyes), and benzoic acid (as colourless effluent) were chosen to evaluate the photocatalytic performance of fabricated samples. The photocatalytic degradation (%) of composite is higher than heterojunction and pristine Magnesium ferrite and Zinc oxide. In the case of methyl orange, the degradation percentage was 80% by the composite (MgFe2O4-ZnO-GO, MF/ZO/GO) while 78% by heterojunction (MgFe2O4-ZnO, MF/ZO), 74% by ZnO (ZO) and 65% by MgFe2O4(MF). Further, crystal violet showed % a degradation 80% by composite and 72% by heterojunction, 74% by MgFe2O4(MF) and 65% by ZnO (ZO). Similarly, MF, ZO, MF/ZO and MF/ZO/GO showed 36%, 39%, 43% and 45% for benzoic acid, respectively. For the degradation of pollutants, the synthesized material will attract the attention of the researcher.