Synthesis of Novel ZrO2/g-C3N4/CuFe2O4 Nanocomposite and Its Efficient Photocatalytic Degradation of Amoxicillin, Chlorpyrifos and Methylene Blue

A novel ZrO2/g-C3N4/CuFe2O4 nanocomposite was synthesized by wet impregnation method and its photocatalytic degradation efficacy is studied on the organic pollutants viz. antibiotic drug (amoxicillin), pesticide (chlorpyrifos) and dye (methylene blue) under both dark and visible light conditions in liquid medium. The synthesized nanocomposite and its photocatalytic degradation studies were well characterized using XRD, TEM, EDS, XPS, UV-Vis DRS, PL, BET and EIS analytical techniques. Among three organic pollutants, the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue pollutant is higher (99.5%, k = 0.0533 min-1) than that of chlorpyrifos (97.3% k = 0.0367 min-1) and amoxicillin (64.6%, k = 0.0109 min-1) under visible light exposure for 90 min using ZrO2/g-C3N4/CuFe2O4 nanocomposite as a photocatalyst. The nanocomposite showed excellent degradation efficiency under the irradiation of visible light while the degradation under dark condition is highly limited. As a control experiment the individual g-C3N4, ZrO2 and CuFe2O4 components of the nanocomposite under the same conditions possess limited degradation efficiency than that of ZrO2/g-C3N4/CuFe2O4 nanocomposite. A possible photo-degradation mechanism is also proposed. Efficient treatment of wastewater could be possible with this novel nanocomposite ZrO2/g-C3N4/CuFe2O4 due to its high stability and reusability.