Zinc oxide nanorods incorporated magnetic isoreticular metal–organic framework for photodegradation of dyes

Abstract

Cobalt magnetic isoreticular metal – organic framework (CoFe2O4-IRMOF-3) was prepared by facile solvothermal procedure. ZnO nanorods were assembled on the CoFe2O4-IRMOF-3 using a commercial ultrasonic homogenizer. The photocatalytic activity of ZnO-CoFe2O3-IRMOF-3 was investigated by photodegradation of two cationic dyes including methylene blue and rhodamin B. CoFe2O4 and ZnO nanorods were incorporated on the IRMOF-3 to improve the separation and photocatalytic activity of IRMOF-3 under visible light, respectively. The mesoporous nanocomposite was characterized by various techniques including transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersion x-ray, powder X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller, and ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The zeta potential of synthesized samples showed the surface of all materials was negative charge in the range of the pH experiment (pH 6.5). The results showed that the ZnO-CoFe2O3-IRMOF-3 had extremely degradation ability of MB and RhB molecule due to the synergetic effect between ZnO and CoFe2O4-IRMOF-3 in comparison with IRMOF-3 and CoFe2O4-IRMOF-3. The introduced ZnO on the surface of CoFe2O4-IRMOF-3 incremented degradation of dyes in the visible region and increased the transfer and separation of the generated charge on the contact area between ZnO and CoFe2O4-IRMOF-3. Furthermore, after five times recycling, the separation of ZnO-CoFe2O4-IRMOF-3 from liquid media using magnetic, the composite still showed high photodegradation ability.