Elaboration of Fe3O4/ZnO nanocomposite with highly performance photocatalytic activity for degradation methylene blue under visible light irradiation

International audienceThe magnetite/zinc oxide (Fe3O4/ZnO) nanocomposites were synthesized by the solidstatemethod using different ratios of zinc oxide and iron oxide. The structural,morphological, and optical properties of nanocomposites were analysed by X-ray diffraction(XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy, transmissionelectron microscope (TEM), UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV–Vis/DRS) and Photoluminescence(PL) spectrophotometry. A significant Raman shift which recorded innanocomposite due to the ZnO component which is strongly incorporated with themagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Furthermore, Fe3O4/ZnO has a strongly quenching in PLintensity indicating stability between electrons and holes (e−/h+). The photocatalyticactivities of Fe3O4/ZnO nanocomposites were investigated by the degradation of methyleneblue in aqueous solution under visible light in different condition of pH, initialconcentration and different trapping agents for free radicals (Tert-butyl alcohol (TBA),p-benzoquinone (BQ) and disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (Na2-EDTA)). Theresults revealed that the photodegradation efficiency of ZnO compound with presenceof magnetite improved from 13.5% to 88.5%. The optical results show enhancement ofnanocomposite absorption under the visible region with a high life time between e−/h+at the optimum ratio between Fe3O4/ZnO (MZ4), which can applied to obtain highphotocatalytic degradation of methylene blue under visible light. Finally, the catalyticactivity has been stabled when such photocatalyst was utilized again for several cycles