Merits photocatalytic activity of rGO/zinc copper ferrite magnetic nanocatalyst for photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) dye

Abstract

The world is now facing a water scarcity crisis due to waste, pollution, and uneven distribution of freshwater resources, which are limited. Thus, the creation of innovative, economical, and effective methods for purifying water is crucial. Here, the photo-assisted degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye under visible light and UV was achieved by using RGO photocatalyst loaded with Zn_0.5Cu_0.5Fe₂O₄ in three different loaded 10%, 20%, and 30% called MRGO 10, MRGO 20, and MRGO 30. Furthermore, all prepared samples was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transformation infrared (FTIR), transmission electron microscope (TEM), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and Raman analysis. After 40 min, the high photocatalytic efficacy effectively eliminated about 95.2% of the 10 ppm MB using 20 mg of MRGO 20 NPs at pH9 Visible light. From the results, the photocatalytic activity of MRGO 20 reduced to 54.6% after five cycles of methylene blue (MB) dye degradation. The produced samples' observed efficacy in both UV and visible light may encourage continued research into more effective photocatalysts for the filtration of water.