Preparation of the novel zeolite X/NiWO4/MnFe2O4 nanocomposite for the sonocatalytic degradation of organic contaminants from water media

In this scientific study, the zeolite type-X/NiWO4/MnFe2O4 nanocomposite was successfully prepared via the hydrothermal method for the first time. FE-SEM, EDAX, XRD, FTIR, VSM and AFM analyses were used to identify the morphological, composition elemental, structural and crystalline size properties of the as-prepared nanocomposite. The sonocatalytic activity of the zeolite X/NiWO4/MnFe2O4 nanocomposite was then investigated for the degradation of organic dye contaminants, including methylene blue (MB), methyl orange (MO) and rhodamine B (RhB) from water media under ultrasound (US) irradiation combined with H2O2 as green oxidant. Different analytical parameters like irradiation time, catalyst dosage, initial dye concentration, H2O2 concentration, process type, and organic dye type were surveyed in detail to gain the maximum sonocatalytic yield. On the basis of the obtained data, the degradation yield achieved 97.5%, 94.4% and 89.2% for MB, RhB and MO dyes, respectively. Furthermore, the trapping experiments exhibited that ·OH free radicals are the main reactive oxygen species in the degradation reaction of organic dyes. In addition to this, the recyclability of the zeolite X/NiWO4/MnFe2O4 sonocatalyst was explored, which clearly affirmed that it can be reused even after four consecutive cycles without any observable change in its structure and activity