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A facile approach for the synthesis of spinel zinc ferrite/cellulose as an effective photocatalyst for the degradation of methylene blue in aqueous solution

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A Correction to this article was published on 16 February 2022

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Abstract

The spinel zinc ferrite (ZnFe2O4) /cellulose composite has been successfully fabricated as a photocatalyst and assessed for its photocatalytic activity toward the degradation of methylene blue (MB) in an aqueous solution. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and zeta potential were used to evaluate the magnetic photocatalyst composite and investigate its degradation mechanism. Furthermore, the photocatalytic behavior of the composite was studied under various conditions. The ZnFe2O4/ cellulose composite effectively degraded (100%) MB after 180 min at a pH of 6.5. The regeneration of the loaded composite was studied using the alcohol/water solution and reused upon a certain variation in the efficiency after the fourth cycle. The photocatalytic process was found to be consistent with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model.

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Acknowledgments

The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University for funding this work.

Funding

This research was supported by grant from Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University through a group research program under grant number RGP. 2/129/42. King Khalid University,1/260/42,Ameni Brahmia

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanomaterials and Systems for Renewable Energy Laboratory, Research and Technology Center of Energy, Technopark Borj Cedria, BP 095, Hammam Lif, Tunisia

    Khaled Charradi, Zakarya Ahmed, Mohamed A. BenMoussa, Zyed Beji, Radhouane Chtourou & Sherif M. A. S. Keshk

  2. Chemistry Department, College of Science, King Khalid University, Abha, 61413, Saudi Arabia

    Ameni Brahmia

  3. Department of Chemistry, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Israa Othman & Mohammad Abu Haija

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  1. Khaled Charradi
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  2. Zakarya Ahmed
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  3. Mohamed A. BenMoussa
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  4. Zyed Beji
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  5. Ameni Brahmia
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  8. Radhouane Chtourou
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  9. Sherif M. A. S. Keshk
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Correspondence to Sherif M. A. S. Keshk.

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The original online version of this article was revised: Same table was processed twice as table 2 and 3. They have been corrected now.

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Charradi, K., Ahmed, Z., BenMoussa, M.A. et al. A facile approach for the synthesis of spinel zinc ferrite/cellulose as an effective photocatalyst for the degradation of methylene blue in aqueous solution. Cellulose 29, 2565–2576 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-021-04334-3

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