Microwave-assisted facile fabrication of α-Fe2O3/CoFe2O4/Co3O4 ternary nanohybrids with highly enhanced photocatalytic activity
Shipra Choudhary, Aditi Bisht, Manisha Sharma, Venkata Krishnan, Satyabrata Mohapatra
Abstract
Novel magnetically recyclable α-Fe 2 O 3 /CoFe 2 O 4 /Co 3 O 4 ternary nanohybrids were fabricated via microwave irradiation assisted co-precipitation as well as co-precipitation together with calcination and well characterized by FESEM, TEM, HRTEM , XRD , Raman, XPS, time resolved PL and UV–vis spectroscopy. FESEM and TEM results confirmed nanoparticles and nanodisc-like morphology of nanostructures in the samples fabricated via simple co-precipitation and microwave assisted co-precipitation, respectively. Raman, XRD , TEM, HRTEM and XPS studies revealed α-Fe 2 O 3 , CoFe 2 O 4 and Co 3 O 4 phases confirming the ternary hybrid nature of the prepared nanoparticles and nanodisc samples. α-Fe 2 O 3 /CoFe 2 O 4 /Co 3 O 4 hybrid nanodiscs exhibited excellent magnetic separability and enhanced photocatalytic efficiency for the decomposition of MB and MG dyes in water. The photocatalytic mechanism demonstrating the dye degradation process and the role of reactive oxygen species responsible of the decolorization of dye investigated via in-situ scavenger trapping experiment were also discussed.