A Facile Preparation of Znfe2o4–Cuo-N/B/Rgo and Znfe2o4–Cuo–C3n4 Ternary Heterojunction Nanophotocatalyst: Characterization, Biocompatibility, Photo-Fenton-Like Degradation of Mo and Magnetic Properties Publisher



Rostami M¹ ; Sharafi P² ; Mozaffari S² ; Adib K³ ; Sobhaninasab A^{4, 5} ; Rahiminasrabadi M^{6, 7} ; Fasihiramandi M⁶ ; Ganjali MR^{8, 9} ; Badiei A¹
Source: Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics Published:2021

Abstract

To improve the low photocatalytic efficiency, powerful UV light activation, and facile electron transport of ZnFe2O4–CuO the combination of different C3N4 and N/B/RGO nanosheets in ZnFe2O4–CuO–C3N4 and ZnFe2O4–CuO-N/B/RGO ternary nanoheterojunction fabricated that lead to decrease recombination of electron/hole pairs and high photocatalytic efficiency for degradation of MO organic pollutants. The ZnFe2O4, ZnFe2O4-N/B/RGO, CuO-N/B/RGO, ZnFe2O4–CuO, ZnFe2O4–CuO-N/RGO, ZnFe2O4–CuO-B/RGO, ZnFe2O4–CuO-RGO, ZnFe2O4–CuO-N/B/RGO and ZnFe2O4–CuO–C3N4 photocatalysts were fabricated by sol–gel technique using melamine, zinc nitrate, ferric nitrate and copper nitrate hexahydrate as precursors. The prepared ZnFe2O4–CuO–C3N4 photocatalysts have a narrower bandgap than that of ZnFe2O4–CuO-N/B/RGO ternary heterojunction, resulting in higher photocatalytic activity for Fenton-type photodecomposition of methyl orange (MO). The activity of the compounds as a photocatalyst can be attributed to an electron transfer process on the surface of the photocatalyst, where the ZnFe2O4–CuO–C3N4 is a powerful electron donor and electron acceptor for the oxidized MO under ultra-violet (UV) light irradiation. ZnFe2O4–CuO–C3N4 ternary heterojunction photocatalyst show a red shift (lowest bandgap) in absorption and excellent photocatalytic degradation of MO. The particle sizes of ZnFe2O4 and CuO nanoparticles (NPs) were in the ranges of ~ 650–750 and ~ 50–150 nm, respectively. The CuO and ZnFe2O4 samples were displayed spherical and cubic morphology in FESEM images, respectively. Among the as-prepared nanostructures ZnFe2O4–CuO–C3N4 show the highest photocatalytic activity and eliminate 95.84% (80 min) of methyl orange under UV light irradiation. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC part of Springer Nature.