Title
Facile synthesis of ZnFe2O4@RGO nanocomposites towards photocatalytic ciprofloxacin degradation and H2 energy production
Author
Arjun Behera, Debasmita Kandi, Sriram Mansingh, Satyabadi Martha, Kulamani Parida
Year
2019
Journal
Journal of Colloid and Interface Science
Abstract
The production of Hydrogen energy through the splitting of water is a promising pathway for clean environment and sustainability. Herein we have synthesized a series of ZnFe2O4 (ZFO)@Reduced Graphene Oxide (RGO) nanocomposites by hydrothermal followed by calcination method and studied its application towards hydrogen energy production and ciprofloxacin degradation. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) study and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis indicate the good crystallinity and suitable chemical environment for the photocatalytic process. Among all the samples, ZFO@3%RGO showed 73.4% of CIP degradation under solar irradiation of 1 h, which is 1.67 times higher than that of pure ZFO nanoparticles. CIP degradation process follows first order kinetics with a good rate constant of 0.021 min−1 which is 2.3 times greater than ZFO. The photocatalyst ZFO@3%RGO illustrated maximum H2 energy production i.e. 410.32 μmol/h, which is 1.35 times more than that of neat ZFO nanoparticles. ZFO@3%RGO demonstrates the highest photocurrent density of 0.6 mA/cm2 under light illuminations, which is 250 times superior to that of the pristine photocatalyst. Bode phase analysis confirmed that ZFO@RGO shows 13 times higher charge separation efficiency in comparison to neat ZFO. The best photocatalytic activity of ZFO@3%RGO nanocomposite is due to its high light absorption capacity, low photogenerated exciton recombination, high electron-hole separation, and high photocurrent density.
Instrument
FP-8300, V-750
Keywords
Absorption, Diffuse reflectance, Band gap, Optical properties, Photoluminescence, Fluorescence, Nanostructures, Materials