Abstract
In this study, we report a surfactant-mediated synthesis of ferrites (MFe2O4: M = Co, Ni, Cu, Zn) using the co-precipitation-oxidation method. The band gap calculated from UV-Visible diffuse reflectance spectra were found in the range of 1.11–1.81 eV. These ferrite nanocatalysts were studied for the photocatalytic degradation of multiple organic dyes in a 32 W UV-C/H2O2 system. All the four ferrites showed an excellent dye degradation rate in the range of 2.065–2.417 min−1 at neutral pH. In the optimized condition, NiF was found to degrade 89%, 92%, 93%, and 78% of methylene blue, methyl orange, bromo green, and methyl red, respectively within 1 min of UV-irradiation. A 40% TOC removal was recorded after 5 min of degradation reaction, which increased to 60% after 50 min. Mechanism elucidated by scavenger studies and fluorescence spectroscopy revealed that •OH and holes were the primary reactive radicals responsible for the degradation process. Ferrite photocatalysts showed an insignificant performance loss in seven consecutive cycles. The photocatalyst was found efficient in the presence of a high concentration of salts. Thus, it was concluded that these photocatalysts are highly suitable for the remediation of dye-contaminated wastewater.
Highlights
In this study, we report a surfactant-mediated synthesis of ferrites (MFe2O4: M = Co, Ni, Cu, Zn) using the co-precipitation-oxidation method
The morphology of ferrite photocatalysts was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and results have been shown in Supplementary Fig. 1
We have demonstrated excellent photocatalytic activity of MFe2O4 nanoparticles synthesized by the CTAB-mediated co-precipitation-oxidation method
Summary
2016 reported visible light-assisted photocatalytic degradation of safranine-O and remazol brilliant yellow at pH 2.5 onto morphologically different NiFe2O4 synthesized by hydrothermal route[17] Though these studies showed remarkable visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes, significant issues with these research works were low pH requirement, slow degradation kinetics, and high energy consumption. Considering these drawbacks as challenges, we focused on the development of novel ferrite photocatalysts, which could be used for dye degradation at neutral pH with low energy consumption. The dye degradation mechanism was deduced based on the scavenger studies and fluorescence spectroscopy
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
