Correction to: Heterogeneous photocatalytic activation of persulfate ions with novel ZnO/AgFeO₂ nanocomposite for contaminants degradation under visible light

Correction to: J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 32:4272–4289 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-05171-z

The authors regret that, in the above paper, Figs. 2b and 2c, Fig. 3e, and Fig. 4b have errors.

The corrected figures are as follows:

The present article should have had an explanation on the UV–vis spectra for the removal of RhB over ZnO and ZnO/AgFeO₂ (20%) photocatalysts (Figs. 6(b, c)), which is denoted as paper 2, in comparison with Fig. 8 (published in Materials Chemistry and Physics 239 (2020) 121988, denoted as paper 1), about the degradation reaction over the ZnO and ZnO/Ag₆Si₂O₇ (30%) samples in the existence of persulfate ions. The UV–vis spectra for RhB degradation reactions were provided to display continuous degradation reactions under the light irradiation. The degradation rate constant over the ZnO/AgFeO₂ (20%) nanocomposite was 207.6 × 10⁻⁴ min⁻¹, which is very close to the degradation rate constant of the same pollutant over ZnO/Ag₆Si₂O₇ (30%) photocatalyst, which was 214.2 × 10⁻⁴ min⁻¹. For this reason, the UV–vis spectra over the ZnO/AgFeO₂ (20%) and ZnO/Ag₆Si₂O₇ (30%) photocatalysts have similar appearances, when viewed broadly. The UV–vis spectra for degradation of RhB over ZnO in these papers should be similar too, because they are related to the pure ZnO (control sample). Although the differences between the UV–vis spectra are not easily observed upon a broader look, the small differences can be observed when they are closely examined. In this regard, to explicitly display the differences between the spectra of RhB over the ZnO and ZnO/AgFeO₂ (20%) and ZnO/Ag₆Si₂O₇ (30%) nanocomposites in the published articles, the Y-axis (absorbances) in Fig. 8 and Fig. 6 were expanded and are displayed as follows. Furthermore, to clearly illustrate the differences between the spectra of the mentioned materials, the differences between the data (absorbances) have been plotted against wavelength in the range of 400–700 nm, and are also presented.

It should be noted that all results, discussions, and conclusions are unaffected by this correction.