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Hydrothermal Synthesis of g‐C 3 N 4 /NiFe 2 O 4 Nanocomposite and Its Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity
Author(s) -
Gebreslassie Gebrehiwot,
Bharali Pankaj,
Chandra Umesh,
Sergawie Assefa,
Baruah Purna K.,
Das Manash R.,
Alemayehu Esayas
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
applied organometallic chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.53
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1099-0739
pISSN - 0268-2605
DOI - 10.1002/aoc.5002
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , methyl orange , nanocomposite , high resolution transmission electron microscopy , hydrothermal circulation , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , hydrothermal synthesis , nuclear chemistry , chemistry , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , materials science , catalysis , transmission electron microscopy , organic chemistry , engineering
Herein, for the first time, a direct Z‐scheme g‐C 3 N 4 /NiFe 2 O 4 nanocomposite photocatalyst was prepared using facile one‐pot hydrothermal method and characterized using XRD, FT‐IR, DRS, PL, SEM, EDS, TEM, HRTEM, XPS, BET and VSM characterized techniques. The result reveals that the NiFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles are loaded on the g‐C 3 N 4 sheets successfully. The photocatalytic activities of the as‐prepared photocatalysts were evaluated for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) under visible light irradiation. It was shown that the photocatalytic activity of the g‐C 3 N 4 /NiFe 2 O 4 nanocomposite is about 4.4 and 3 times higher than those of the pristine NiFe 2 O 4 and g‐C 3 N 4 respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic activity could be ascribed to the formation of g‐C 3 N 4 /NiFe 2 O 4 direct Z‐scheme photocatalyst, which results in efficient space separation of photogenerated charge carriers. More importantly, the as‐prepared Z‐scheme photocatalyst can be recoverable easily from the solution by an external magnetic field and it shows almost the same activity for three consecutive cycles. Considering the simplicity of preparation method, this work will provide new insights into the design of high‐performance magnetic Z‐scheme photocatalysts for organic contaminate removal.