Eco-friendly synthesis of recyclable mesoporous zinc ferrite@reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite for efficient photocatalytic dye degradation under solar radiation

Marjorie Lara Baynosa; Amr Hussein Mady; Van Quang Nguyen; Deivasigamani Ranjith Kumar; Mostafa Saad Sayed; Dirk Tuma; Jae-Jin Shim

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2019.11.018

Eco-friendly synthesis of recyclable mesoporous zinc ferrite@reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite for efficient photocatalytic dye degradation under solar radiation

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2020 Mar 1:561:459-469. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.11.018. Epub 2019 Nov 9.

Authors

Marjorie Lara Baynosa¹, Amr Hussein Mady², Van Quang Nguyen³, Deivasigamani Ranjith Kumar³, Mostafa Saad Sayed², Dirk Tuma⁴, Jae-Jin Shim⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280 Daehak-ro, Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk 38541, Republic of Korea; Department of Chemical Engineering, University of the Philippines-Diliman, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines.
² School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280 Daehak-ro, Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk 38541, Republic of Korea; Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, Nasr City, Cairo 11727, Egypt.
³ School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280 Daehak-ro, Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk 38541, Republic of Korea.
⁴ BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Richard-Willstätter-Str. 11, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
⁵ School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280 Daehak-ro, Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk 38541, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: jjshim@yu.ac.kr.

PMID: 31753506
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.11.018

Abstract

Zinc ferrite and graphene composites have attracted considerable attention in wastewater treatment. In this work, a magnetically separable mesoporous composite of ZnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles (NPs) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was prepared through a simple and eco-friendly method with pure water as solvent and without the need for subsequent thermal treatment. Uniformly dispersed ZnFe₂O₄ NPs on the surface of rGO sheets exhibited good crystallinity and a large BET specific surface area. These factors contributed to good photocatalytic performance of the composite for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under simulated solar-light radiation, increased adsorptivity, increased separation efficiency of the photo-excited charges on the surface of the catalyst, and broadened light-absorption range of the composite. Efficient interfacial interaction between the ZnFe₂O₄ NPs and rGO sheets resulted in synergistic effects. The magnetically separable ZnFe₂O₄@rGO nanocomposite proved an efficient and stable catalyst in three consecutive photodegradation cycles for MB dye in aqueous solution under solar radiation. In addition, the synthesis method proposed in this study could be scaled-up easily due to the simplicity of the process, the lack of a toxic reagent, and the use of low temperatures.

Keywords: Degradation; Eco-friendly; Nanocomposite; Photocatalyst; Recycle; Reduced graphene oxide; Solar radiation; Wastewater treatment; Zinc ferrite.