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Photocatalytic Degradation Dynamics of Methyl Orange Using Coprecipitation Synthesized Fe3O4 Nanoparticles

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Abstract

This study aims to investigate the photocatalytic degradation performance, mechanism, and dynamics of methyl orange (MO) which is a widely used organic dye in textile industries as well a hazardous wastewater pollutant. The degradation process was catalyzed by employing a synthesized Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticle (NP) using the coprecipitation method. The structural and morphological properties of the synthesized Fe3O4 NPs were investigated by employing XRD, HR-SEM, and XPS, which proved that acquired Fe3O4 NPs were in a pure phase. Moreover, the crystallite sizes fall in the range of 28–31.8 nm and were estimated by applying the Scherrer equation on the XRD spectrum as well as calculated independently by applying a statistical approach on the SEM micrographs. The UV–Vis maximum in the visible range at 468.8 nm consists of two absorption frequency bands due to the effect of the hydrogen-bond interaction between water and the azo nitrogens in the MO. A non-monotonic spectral dynamic accompanied by peak wavelength shifts, as well as the absolute signal amplitude and signal area of the MO band, suggests that a cleavage of the azo bond is not the only and/or the dominant process in the photocatalytic oxidization of the MO in a protic solvent. The overall absorbance process is a complicated response to a combination of nonspecific and specific solute-solvent interactions, dipole-dipole interactions, hydrogen-bonding networks, and other possible intermolecular interactions such as hydrophobic/hydrophilic interactions. A bi-exponential decay was found to be the best fitting function to model the decay of the time-dependent electrical conductivity of the MO aqueous solution under photocatalytic oxidization. The Fe3O4 NPs exhibited a 98.3% removal of MO within 110 min. Photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange can be modeled to the first-order model with a rate constant k of 0.037 min−1 taking into account the initial concentration of 1175 ppm of MO. The degradation/decolorization efficiency deduced from the low-frequency band of the visible spectra is around 99.4% after 110 min. The real-time degradation/decolorization efficiencies deduced from the overall absorbance maxima and the low-frequency band have a discrepancy of 50.1% at 20 min and 12.3% at 60 min representing the progressive attenuation of the H-bond impact dissociation of MO (degradation/decolorization).

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the national program “Faculty for Factory” (FFF) in the University of Jordan for initiation the links with industrial sector in Jordan. The scientific and the financial support of the Deanship of Scientific Research at the German Jordanian University (Project number SNRE 2/2013) is gratefully appreciated. A sincere acknowledgement goes to the Max Planck Institute, Erlangen-Germany for granting us access to their XPS spectrometer and to the technological assistance that was offered in the characterizations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Industrial Engineering Department, School of Engineering, The National Program for Linkage Academic Institutions with Industrial Sectors “Faculty for Factory FFF”, The University of Jordan (UJ), Amman, 11942, Jordan

    Yousef Al-Abdallat

  2. School of Basic Sciences and Humanities, German-Jordanian University (GJU), Amman, 11180, Jordan

    Inshad Jum’h

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, Al-Huson University College, Al-Balqa Applied University, P.O. Box 50, Al-Huson, Irbid, Jordan

    Abeer Al Bsoul

  4. Department of Chemical Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, 22110, Jordan

    Rami Jumah

  5. Leibniz-Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften - ISAS - e.V., 44139, Dortmund, Germany

    Ahmad Telfah

  6. Hamdi Mango Center for Scientific Research (HMCSR), The University of Jordan (UJ), Amman, 11942, Jordan

    Ahmad Telfah

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  1. Yousef Al-Abdallat
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  2. Inshad Jum’h
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Al-Abdallat, Y., Jum’h, I., Al Bsoul, A. et al. Photocatalytic Degradation Dynamics of Methyl Orange Using Coprecipitation Synthesized Fe3O4 Nanoparticles. Water Air Soil Pollut 230, 277 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-019-4310-y

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