Preparation of novel Ni/Co co-doping Fe3O4/TiO2 core–shell nanocomposites and their use in effective photocatalytic degradation of Amlodipine drug.

Abstract

ABSTRACTNi/Co co-doping Fe3O4/TiO2 magnetic core–shell nanocomposites (wt% varied amount of dopants) have been prepared by sol-gel method at low temperature. X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometry studies have been made to investigate the crystalline structure, morphology and magnetic properties of these composites. The prepared Ni/Co co-doping Fe3O4/TiO2 nanocomposites exhibit high degree of crystallinity and suitable magnetic properties at room temperature. Their use has been made in effective photocatalytic degradation of Amlodipine a pharmaceutical contaminant under UV light irradiation at 365 nm. The results have shown that wt% amount of dopants, calcination time, calcination temperature and pH of the Amlodipine aqueous solution are important factors in degradation efficiency of Amlodipine. The optimal weight ratios of Ni and Co to Ti were 0.015%. The nanocomposites can be recovered from the aqueous system easily by using a magnet. Their photocatalytic degradation activity for Amlodipine drug remained 94.43% after five times of repetitive use.