Fabrication of Fe3O4/Al2O3/CuO magnetic nanocomposite and effective in the photedegradation of methylene blue

Abstract

In this research, a Fe₃O₄/Al₂O₃/CuO magnetic nanocomposite (NC) was prepared by co-precipitation method for photocatalytic activity and identified using VSM, TEM, FE-SEM, EDX, XRD and DRS techniques. Based on the TEM analysis, the structure of NC was observed as nanorods. Also, the presence of CuO was confirmed by EDX and XRD analyses. Using the DRS spectrum results, the energy band gap of Fe₃O₄/Al₂O₃/CuO NC was determined as ~ 2 eV. The synthesized compound was used as a photocatalyst for the degradation of methylene blue under sunlight irradiation. The reaction process was investigated by ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy. According to the obtained results from MB degradation about 95 percent of MB (10 mg/L) was decomposed after 25 min under sunlight irradiation. Furthermore, even after five cycles, the rate of MB degradation could still exceed 90 percent. Also, based on the obtained results, the synthesized NC can be recovered and reused in the photochemistry process. Additionally, based on the results, the Fe₃O₄/Al₂O₃/CuO NCs show high performance photocatalytic activity toward the degradation of MB under solar radiation.

Graphical abstract