Response Surface Methodology for Photo Degradation of Methyl Orange Using Magnetic Nanocomposites Containing Zinc Oxide

Abstract

Magnetic graphen oxide (Fe3O4-GO) is applied for preparation of Fe3O4-GO-ZnO (MGOZ) nanocomposite as photocatalyst. The photocatalysts are characterized by FTIR and UV spectrophotometer. FTIR results confirm the presence of Zn–O bonds and Fe–O bonds that are attributed to the ZnO and Fe3O4, respectively. The removal efficiency of methyl orange (MO) is compared using MGOZ and Fe3O4-ZnO at different irradiation time (ranging from 5 to 40 min) and pH (in the range of 3 to 11). The experimental results show that the removal efficiency of MO using MGOZ and Fe3O4-ZnO enhanced with respect to the irradiation time. Meanwhile the lowest and highest removal efficiency are obtained at pH = 7 and pH = 3, respectively. The comparison between removal efficiency of MO using MGOZ and Fe3O4-ZnO reveals that GO has a significant effect on the photocatalytic activity. Meanwhile, the removal efficiency of MO using MGOZ is higher than that of Fe3O4-ZnO. The statistical analysis of results using design of experiments (DOE) and Duncan’s multiple range test at α = 0.05 confirm that irradiation time, pH and their interactions have a significant effect on the removal efficiency of MO.