Synthesis, characterization and investigation of photocatalytic and catalytic applications of Fe3O4/TiO2/CuO nanoparticles for degradation of MB and reduction of nitrophenols

Abstract

Nanoparticles of Fe3O4 magnetite were prepared using co-precipitation method. Titanium dioxide was then coated on the surface of Fe3O4 by sonicating of TBOT. Finally, Cu(NO3)2.6H2O was loaded over Fe3O4/TiO2 to prepare Fe3O4/TiO2/CuO nanoparticle. The prepared compounds were characterized by FT-IR, DRS, EDX, XRD, XPS, VSM, FE-SEM and TEM. Based on XRD and TEM, titanium dioxide, as the anatase and rutile phases, is coated over Fe3O4 as a core shell structure. Based on the DRS spectra and band gap calculation, the band gap energy of Fe3O4/TiO2/CuO was determined as 1.9 eV. Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) was carried out in aqueous medium under sun light irradiation. The MB was depredated in neutral media (at pH = 7) at about 22 min. more than 99 %. The catalytic activity of the Fe3O4/TiO2/CuO nanoparticles was applied in the reduction of para and orthonitrophenol in the presence of NaBH4. The reduction reaction was completed at 2 min. The reaction progress of the catalytic and photocatalytic degradation was monitored by UV–vis spectroscopy. The results show that, the Fe3O4/TiO2/CuO nanoparticles can be separable and also recyclable for several times.