Hybrid sonoprecipitation fabrication of magnetic ZnO-GO-Fe3O4 nanophotocatalyst for solar-light-driven degradation of dyes in water

• Published in: Materials research bulletin 2022-09, Vol.153, p.111907, Article 111907
• Main Authors: Zarrabi, Mahdi, Haghighi, Mohammad, Alizadeh, Reza, Mahboob, Salar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Fe3O4; Graphene oxide; Organic dyes removal; Photodegradation; Sonoprecipitation; ZnO
• ISSN: 0025-5408; 1873-4227
• DOI: 10.1016/j.materresbull.2022.111907

•Sonoprecipitation/Sonosolvothermal design of magnetic ZnO-GO nanocomposite.•Addressing the effect of graphene and iron oxide in the nanocomposite structure.•Potential application of magnetic ZnO-GO nanocomposite in water treatment.•Improvement of photocatalytic activity by ultrasound irradiation.•Promotion effect of graphene and iron oxide on photocatalytic activity. ZnO-GO-Fe3O4 as an effective magnetic nanocomposite in photodegradation of water pollutants is prepared via two step procedure and its photocatalytic activity for organic dyes degradation is investigated. The first step is sonoprecipitation synthesis of ZnO over graphene oxide nanosheet and the second step is addition of Fe3O4 nanoparticles by two methods: precipitation synthesis and solvothermal addition. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (EDX), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) Surface Area Analysis and Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) Pore Size and Volume Analysis, Differential reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Vibrating-Sample Magnetometer (VSM) techniques are employed to examine the characterization of the nanocomposites. The results display high surface area with mesoporous structure and low energy band gap is obtained for ZnO-GO-Fe3O4 synthesized via solvothermal method. Also, ultrasound irradiation increases the available surface area for photoreaction. The degradation percent of eosin yellow and methylene blue are about 60 and 97%, respectively. The effect of initial pH of solution, the amount of loaded photocatalyst and initial dye concentration are investigated in this research. [Display omitted]