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Heterojunction of N/B/RGO and g-C3N4 anchored magnetic ZnFe2O4@ZnO for promoting UV/Vis-induced photo-catalysis and in vitro toxicity studies

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Abstract

To promote the low photocatalytic efficiency caused by the recombination of electron/hole pairs and widen the photo-response wavelength window, ZnFe2O4@ZnO-N/B/RGO and ZnFe2O4@ZnO-C3N4 ternary heterojunction nanophotocatalysts were designed and successfully prepared through a sol–gel technique. In comparison to bare ZnFe2O4 and ZnO, the ZnFe2O4-ZnO@N/B/RGO and ZnFe2O4@ZnO-C3N4 ternary products showed highly improved photocatalytic properties in the degradation of methyl orange (MO) under ultra-violet (UV) and visible light irradiation. Various physicochemical properties of the photocatalysts were evaluated through field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) techniques. The observations indicated that the ternary heterojuncted ZnFe2O4@ZnO-N/B/RGO absorbs lower energy visible light wavelengths, which is an enhancement in the photocatalytic properties of ZnFe2O4@ZnO loaded on reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanosheets and graphite-like carbon nitride (g-C3N4). This gives the catalyst photo-Fenton degradation properties.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Halal Research Center of IRI, FDA, Tehran, Iran

    Mojtaba Rostami

  2. School of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Mojtaba Rostami & Alireza Badiei

  3. Department of Chemistry, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran

    Sepideh Nayebossadr, Shahla Mozaffari & Ghasem Rezanejade Bardajee

  4. Social Determinants of Health (SDH) Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

    Ali Sobhani-Nasab

  5. Core Research Lab, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

    Ali Sobhani-Nasab

  6. Molecular Biology Research Center, Systems Biology and Poisoning Institute, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mehdi Rahimi-Nasrabadi & Mahdi Fasihi-Ramandi

  7. Faculty of Pharmacy, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mehdi Rahimi-Nasrabadi

  8. Center of Excellence in Electrochemistry, School of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Reza Ganjali

  9. Biosensor Research Center, Endocrinology & Metabolism Molecular-Cellular Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Reza Ganjali

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  1. Mojtaba Rostami
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  2. Sepideh Nayebossadr
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  3. Shahla Mozaffari
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  4. Ali Sobhani-Nasab
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  5. Mehdi Rahimi-Nasrabadi
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  6. Mahdi Fasihi-Ramandi
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  7. Mohammad Reza Ganjali
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  8. Ghasem Rezanejade Bardajee
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  9. Alireza Badiei
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Correspondence to Mehdi Rahimi-Nasrabadi.

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Rostami, M., Nayebossadr, S., Mozaffari, S. et al. Heterojunction of N/B/RGO and g-C3N4 anchored magnetic ZnFe2O4@ZnO for promoting UV/Vis-induced photo-catalysis and in vitro toxicity studies. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 11430–11443 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10572-y

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