Magnetic photocatalysts based on graphene oxide: synthesis, characterization, application in advanced oxidation processes and response surface analysis

Abstract

The decomposition rate of methyl orange (MO) is studied in aqueous solution of magnetic photocatalysts based on graphene oxide (GO). ZnO photocatalytic nanoparticles are synthesized with controlled amounts on magnetized graphene oxide and two photocatalytic samples including GFZ1 and GFZ2 are prepared for use in advanced oxidation process. The characterization of the synthesized photocatalysts is done by XRD, FTIR and VSM. The crystal structure of magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles as well as photocatalytic ZnO nanoparticles on the graphene oxide network has been confirmed by XRD analysis in both synthesized samples. FTIR analysis of both GFZ1 and GFZ2 also shows the stretching vibration of Fe–O and Zn–O bonds in Fe3O4 and ZnO, respectively. The superparamagnetic properties of both samples can be confirmed using VSM analysis. It is also observed that with the increase of ZnO nanoparticles in GFZ2, the magnetic properties decrease compared to GFZ1. The effect of irradiation time time (between 5 and 40 min), weight fraction of the synthesized photocatalysts (0.1%wt, 0.2%wt, and 0.3%wt) and pH of the suspension (3, 7, and 11) on the changes in MO decomposition rate was investigated and the response surface method (RSM) was used to study the effect of the simultaneous change of two parameters of the mentioned factors on the MO removal efficiency. The results show that with the increase of irradiation time and also the weight fraction of both photocatalysts, the decomposition rate of MO also increases significantly. So that in all time intervals and weight fractions, the photocatalytic activity of GFZ2 is much higher than that of GFZ1. The effect of pH also shows that the maximum and minimum decomposition rates occur in acidic and neutral conditions, respectively.