Synergistic ZnFe2O4-carbon allotropes nanocomposite photocatalyst for norfloxacin degradation and Cr (VI) reduction

Arjun Behera; Sriram Mansingh; Kundan Kumar Das; Kulamani Parida

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2019.02.056

Synergistic ZnFe₂O₄-carbon allotropes nanocomposite photocatalyst for norfloxacin degradation and Cr (VI) reduction

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2019 May 15:544:96-111. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.02.056. Epub 2019 Feb 23.

Authors

Arjun Behera¹, Sriram Mansingh¹, Kundan Kumar Das¹, Kulamani Parida²

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Nano Science and Nano Technology, Institute of Technical Education and Research, Siksha 'O' Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar 751030, India.
² Centre for Nano Science and Nano Technology, Institute of Technical Education and Research, Siksha 'O' Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar 751030, India. Electronic address: kulamaniparida@soa.ac.in.

PMID: 30826534
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.02.056

Abstract

Development of highly efficient robust catalyst for pollutant abetment still remains an ongoing scientific challenge in the field of visible light driven photocatalysis. In this work a series of ZnFe₂O₄ (ZFO)/carbon derivatives (ZFO@CNT, ZFO@GO, ZFO@Fullerene) nanocomposite were fabricated by one-pot hydrothermal method followed by calcination. The detail anatomical featured such as crystal geometry, morphology, elemental composition, light absorption performance, electron-hole recombination properties and photocurrent density were characterized by XRD, SEM, HRTEM, XPS, UV-Vis DRS, PL and electrochemical analysis respectively. The photocatalytic performances of ZFO@carbon nanocomposites were studied for the degradation of antibiotics (Norfloxacin) and hexavalent Chromium under open sun light illumination and the obtained results suggested that loading of carbon derivatives of ZFO nanoparticles enhance the visible light absorption capacity and excitation separation efficiency. Among the fabricated composites, ZFO@CNT exhibits the highest activity in comparison to other nanocomposites. The highest activity of ZFO@CNT is due to low photoexcited electron-hole recombination and high charge transfer properties of ZFO@CNT as confirmed via PL and impedance measurement. Further, the fabricated ZFO@CNT nanocomposite exhibited highest photocurrent density i.e. 2.25 mA/cm² which was 225 times higher than that of neat ZFO. The optimal photocatalytic efficiency was shown by ZFO@CNT i.e. 91.36% degradation of 50 ppm norfloxacin and 82% reduction of 10 ppm Cr (VI) in 90 min and 60 min respectively under solar light irradiation.

Keywords: Photocatalytic activity; Reusability and degradation of norfloxacin; ZFO@Carbon allotropes (CNT, Fullerene, GO) nanocomposites.