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Efficient photocatalytic degradation of aniline blue under solar irradiation by ternary cobalt ferrite/graphitic carbon nitride/bentonite nanocomposite

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Abstract

The current research describes the synthesis, characterization and application of CoFe2O4/g-C3N4/bentonite as a novel nanocomposite for the efficient degradation of aniline blue under solar irradiation. Powder XRD, TIR, SEM, TEM, VSM and UV-DRS were used to describe the formation and morphology of the composite. The composite has been used as a heterogeneous photocatalyst to degrade aniline blue in the presence of H2O2. In the presence of H2O2 in solar radiation, it was possible to degrade 88.5% of 10 ppm aniline blue solution just in 50 min using 50 mg of the composite. The improvement in photodegradation rate in the existence of H2O2 was attributed to the advanced oxidation process (AOP) mechanism of photo-Fenton involving the production of reactive hydroxyl and perhydroxyl radicals. The degradation was found to follow first-order kinetics with high regression coefficient with elevated rate constant.

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Data availability

On reasonable request, the corresponding author can provide the datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are appreciative to the Department of Chemistry, NIT Silchar, the Department of Chemistry, S. S. College, Hailakandi, and G. C. College, Silchar, Assam, India, for providing the research infrastructure. The authors would also like to appreciate STIC, Cochin, Kerala, and SAIC, Tezpur University, Assam, for providing analytical amenities.

Funding

This study received no particular support from governmental, private or non-profit funding agencies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Srikishan Sarda College, Hailakandi, Assam, India

    Debasish Guha Thakurata

  2. Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology Silchar, Assam, India

    Debasish Guha Thakurata, Krishna Chandra Das & Siddhartha Sankar Dhar

  3. Department of Chemistry, G. C. College, Silchar, Assam, India

    Krishna Chandra Das

Authors
  1. Debasish Guha Thakurata
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  2. Krishna Chandra Das
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  3. Siddhartha Sankar Dhar
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Contributions

D.G.T. (Ph. D Student) has conducted all experiments and prepared the manuscript, K.C.D (Assistant Prof) revised the manuscript and helped in characterization process, and S. S. D. (Supervisor/ Associate Professor) helped in entire supervision.

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Correspondence to Debasish Guha Thakurata.

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Thakurata, D.G., Das, K.C. & Dhar, S.S. Efficient photocatalytic degradation of aniline blue under solar irradiation by ternary cobalt ferrite/graphitic carbon nitride/bentonite nanocomposite. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 34269–34277 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-18242-3

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