Enhanced Photodegradation of Methylene Blue Using Reusable Cobalt Ferrite Nanocomposites

Growing industrialization is contributing to the worsening shortage of potable water in society. Consequently, wastewater treatment and dye degradation become the foremost aim to overcome this problem. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) emerged as an efficient tool to overcome the problem of wastewater treatment. Easy recovery of the MNPs reduces the operational cost of the reaction. Therefore, in the current study simple, cheap, green, and highly proficient synthesis methodology for the magnetically recoverable cobalt ferrite is reported. The X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirm the crystalline structure and functional group on the synthesized nanoparticles. The elemental composition, surface morphology, and surface area were investigated by Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis. The Photo-Fenton process was used to check the catalytic activity of the prepared CoFe2O4 nanoparticles (NPs). The effect of the various experimental parameters like pH (3–9), catalyst dosage (50–200 mg/L), H2O2 dosage (5–20 mM), and varied dye (methylene blue) concentration (0.05–0.2 mM) on catalytic performance were studied. According to this investigation, 90% degradation of the methylene blue was achieved in just 90 minutes using the assynthesized catalyst. The catalyst showed 76.91% of the dye degradation even after 4 consecutive cycles; it suggests the admirable stability of the catalyst during the reaction. The robustness of the CoFe2O4 NPs makes it potential candidate for the waste water treatment.