Magnetically separable rGO based ternary composite for enhanced photocatalytic activity

Abstract

Recently, there has been a lot of attention paid to synthesizing magnetically separable nanocomposites to increase photocatalyst efficiency and charge-transfer ability. Herein, copper oxide-Cadmium ferrite binary composite (CuO/CdFe) and its ternary composite with reduced graphene (CuO/CdFe@rGO) were also fabricated by ultra-sonication method. Moreover, Structural and morphological confirmation of prepared samples was studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV–visible spectroscopy. Furthermore, these prepared photocatalysts were treated against crystal violet (CV), phenol and benzoic acid. Interestingly, results showed maximum degradation by CuO/CdFe@rGO ternary composite. Presence of rGO sheets provided maximum surface area, high charge separation capabilities, more active sites and high stability. It also reduced electron-hole pair recombination rate by trapping charged species readily. Hence, CuO/CdFe@rGO acts as effective photocatalyst and degraded 92%, of Crystal violet (CV), 54% of phenol and 63% of benzoic acid in 90 min. Scavenging experiment was also performed to investigate the reactive species involved in degradation process. Remarkably, CuO/CdFe@rGO nanocomposite could be magnetically recovered. In addition, CuO/CdFe@rGO ternary composite exhibited good reusability and photostability even after four cyclic runs without any lose in its photocatalytic efficiency. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.