Polyaniline grafted Fe3O4@ZnO/GO as a recyclable photocatalyst

Abstract

A novel superparamagnetic Fe3O4@ZnO/GO (F@Z/G) nanocomposites with different ratios: (1/1, 1/2, 1/3 wt%) of Fe3O4@ZnO core–shell to GO were synthesized using the hydrothermal method. XRD and TEM images indicated the formation of magnetite Fe3O4 and ZnO in the form of core–shell,which were uniformly loaded on GO sheets. In the next step, OH and COOH functional groups of F@Z and GO in F@Z/G nanocomposites used as initiators for in situ polymerization of aniline and polyaniline grafted F@Z/G nanocomposites were named as (F@Z/G1-P, F@Z/G2-P, F@Z/G3-P) were successfully produced. The Formation of polyaniline on F@Z/G nanocomposite was confirmed using FTIR, and XRD. The presence of polyaniline in F@Z/G nanocomposites not only retained their superparamagnetic property of F@Z/G nanocomposites as recyclable photocatalysts for degradation of methylene blue but also increased their degradation efficiency by speeding up the electron-hole production. The Maximum removal efficiency under the same conditions was obtained for F@Z/G2-P nanocomposite which reached 96.10 % during 40 min.