Efficient Degradation of Methylene Blue using ZnO-decorated Mg Ferrite nanorods with Enhanced Light Absorption and Magnetic Separability

Abstract

It is vitally desirable to develop low-cost photo catalysts for the degradation of colored dyes to maintain our environment for future generations. The Co precipitation method was employed in our investigation to synthesize ZnO, MgFe2O4, and ZnO/MgFe2O4 Nano composite. These Nano composite’s morphological, optical, magnetic, dielectric, and photo catalytic properties were all investigated. Characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), vibrating-sample magnetometry (VSM), impedance analyzer, GCMS analyzer, and UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis) were used. The XRD data validated the fabrication of ZnO, MgFe2O4, and ZnO/MgFe2O4 Nano composite because there were no detectable impurity peaks. The presence of MgFe2O4 nanoparticles in the form of elongated rods and circular particles was discovered through morphological analysis. Diffused reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) revealed that the band gap of ZnO/MgFe2O4 Nano composite was greater than that of MgFe2O4 NPs. The presence of ZnO and Mg ferrite was detected using FTIR in the ZnO/MgFe2O4 Nano composite. The photo catalytic activity of ZnO/MgFe2O4 Nano composite was tested against Methylene blue (MB) under sunlight, and the results showed that the best catalytic characteristics of almost 99.16% were reached when compared to pure MgFe2O4 nanoparticles. Plots of complex impedance indicated how degradation mechanisms associated with grain and grain boundary borders influenced the measured dielectric properties of the Nano composite. Vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) can precisely quantify hysteresis loops, which reveals a lot about the magnetic characteristics of ZnO/MgFe2O4 Nano composite.