Photocatalytic degradation of coomassie blue G-250 by magnetic NiFe2O4/ZnO nanocomposite

Faten Eshrati Yeganeh,Malak Hekmati,Maryam Bikhof,Mohammad Yousefi

doi:10.5802/crchim.36

Abstract

Photocatalysts NiFe2O4, ZnO, and NiFe2O4/ZnO were successfully synthesized and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometry techniques. The prepared photocatalysts demonstrated significant photocatalytic efficiency under visible and UV light. The rate of dye degradation of NiFe2O4/ZnO in both UV and visible ranges exceeded that of ZnO and NiFe2O4. Moreover, NiFe2O4/ZnO exhibited the most excellent photocatalytic efficiency toward Coomassie blue G-250. The effect of pH on the dye degradation rate was also monitored. Accordingly, 96.90% and 68.55% dye degradation efficiencies were achieved by NiFe2O4/ZnO in 30 min under UV and visible light, respectively.

Highlights

Water pollution has become a very serious problem, which has increased due to scientific progress and the rapid growth of industry
ZnO and magnetic nickel ferrite nanoparticles were prepared by solidification and calcination methods
Microstructural studies indicated that the prepared nanocomposite included spinel nickel ferrite magnetic particles and ZnO

Summary

Introduction

Water pollution has become a very serious problem, which has increased due to scientific progress and the rapid growth of industry. The rapid industrial growth has caused environmental pollution (in particular, water contamination) due to the release of toxic compounds such as textile dyes, rubber, plastic, aromatic materials, and paper, which can cause irreparable damage to human cells, leading to diseases such as cancer [1,2,3,4]. Studies on chlorine-disinfected waters have indicated that disinfection byproducts are produced as a result of the reaction of chlorine with the matter present in water. Various methods, such as active carbon adsorption, ion exchange, electrolysis filtration, biodegradation, and catalysis, have been employed to remove these contaminants [5,6,7]. Among the various separation methods, oxidation processes, especially photocatalysis, have exhibited superiority over conventional filtration processes [8,9]

Methods

Results

Conclusion