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Facile synthesis of activated carbon/ZnFe2O4 hybrid composite as an efficient photocatalyst for enhanced degradation of methylene blue (MB) and reactive red 120 dye under UV light

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Abstract

This study used zinc/iron acetate (as a precursor) and a carboxylic variant of activated carbon (as a matrix) to create nanostructured zinc ferrite (ZnFe2O4). Carboxylic derivative (AC–COOH) of activated carbon was obtained by nitric acid oxidation. Then, enhanced activated carbon's surface was impregnated with ZnFe2O4. ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles with a size range of 25–35 nm and a surface area of 165.8 m2g−1 were proven to have been achieved after the ZnFe2O4 nanostructure was characterized by XRD, FESEM, TEM, UV, PL, BET, and XPS. Using the same testing circumstances, the optimized photocatalyst with 10 wt.% ZnFe2O4 inserted AC demonstrated the best degrading efficeicny to methylene blue (99%) and Reactive red (94%). The Langmuir–Hinshelwood hypothesis, which states that the dye concentration is a first-order function of time, was validated by kinetic investigations. The photocatalyst was shown to be stable after 7 cycles of recycling under optimal circumstances in a study of the reusability of a 10-ZnFe2O4/AC photocatalyst. In addition, PL, TRPL, EIS, and transient-photocurrent response all provide strong evidence for the efficient charge separation in ZnFe2O4/AC.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are grateful to the Researchers supporting Project Number (RSP2024R247), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Kandaswami Kandar’s College, P.Velur, Namakkal, Tamilnadu, 638182, India

    J. Hemalatha & M. Senthil

  2. Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 22452, 11495, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Amal M. Al-Mohaimeed & Wedad A. Al-onazi

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  1. J. Hemalatha
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JH, MS, study conceptualization and writing (original draft) the manuscript AMAM, WAO, data curation, formal analysis and writing (review & editing).

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Correspondence to M. Senthil.

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Hemalatha, J., Senthil, M., Al-Mohaimeed, A.M. et al. Facile synthesis of activated carbon/ZnFe2O4 hybrid composite as an efficient photocatalyst for enhanced degradation of methylene blue (MB) and reactive red 120 dye under UV light. J IRAN CHEM SOC 21, 1317–1329 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13738-024-03000-2

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