Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue Dye using PANI-CuFe2O4 Nano Composite

Abstract

The present perspective accentuates the synthesis of PANI-CuFe₂O₄ (PCF) nanocomposite, and photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye using a synthesized composite. The stable PCF is confirmed and characterized by analytical techniques, namely, fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron (XPS) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) analysis. The synthesized PCF nanocomposites are significantly crystalline in nature, having magnetic saturation of 10.47 emu g⁻¹, and monoclinic crystalline structure as well as the size of nanocomposite is 39.54 nm verified by XRD pattern. SEM analysis revealed a regular porous and rough surface of nanocomposite. In addition, the nanocomposite divulged the remarkable efficient elimination of MB dye with maximum removal of 96% with good fitting of Langmuir isotherm, indication of monolayer formation on the catalyst surface through the interaction between nanocomposite and dye molecule. The adsorption kinetics bolstered the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, suggesting the adsorption process proceeded by chemisorption. The most notable feature of the nanocomposite is the reusability and good stability after several cycles, maintaining 90% after five cycles.