Sunlight responsive Fe3O4 embedded GO sponge wrapped by PANI for photocatalytic abatement of rhodamine B dye

• Published in: Polyhedron 2024-06, Vol.255, p.117137, Article 117137
• Main Authors: Asghar Jamal, Muhammad, Iqbal, Shahid, Mahmood, Sajid, Chohdry, Sadia, Zidan, Ammar, Tariq Qamar, Muhammad, Saeed, Muhammad, Asghar, Humaira, Alotaibi, Khalid M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Fe3O4; PANI; RhB; Sunlight photocatalysis
• ISSN: 0277-5387
• DOI: 10.1016/j.poly.2024.117137

This presents the successful utilization of Fe3O4 embedded GO sponge wrapped by PANI for the photocatalytic removal of RhB dye under the illumination of natural sunlight and its reusability. [Display omitted] A novel GO/Fe3O4/PANI ternary photocatalyst was prepared using facile mechanochemical mixing. The composite nature of the material was confirmed due to the existence of distinct diffractions and absorption bands of the components of GO/Fe3O4/PANI in XRD, FT-IR and absorption spectra, respectively. Band gap evaluation revealed a blue shift in the band gap energy (∼3.02 eV) of PANI in composite with the mixing of GO and Fe3O4. A porous amorphous surface wherein Fe3O4 nanoparticles embedded on a GO sponge wrapped by a polyaniline network was noticed in scanning electron micrographs. Photocatalytic studies showed that 10 mg of GO/Fe3O4/PANI removed over 92 % of 10 ppm rhodamine B (RhB) dye in 60 min. of natural sunlight illumination (700 × 102 ± 100 lx). Moreover, kinetic studies revealed that the removal of RhB followed the pseudo-first-order kinetic model.