Effects of ethylene glycol contents on phase formation, magnetic properties and photocatalytic activity of CuFe2O4/Cu2O/Cu nanocomposite powders synthesized by solvothermal method
H. Astaraki, S.M. Masoudpanah, S. Alamolhoda
Abstract
In this research, CuFe 2 O 4 /Cu 2 O/Cu nanocomposites were synthesized by the solvothermal method . The consequences of ethylene glycol (ET) as a solvent on phase formation, morphology, and magnetic properties were studied. The powders showed high photocatalytic activity using methylene blue (MB) dye under visible light, and 99.1% degradation was observed without the utilization of H 2 O 2 . Various kinetic factors such as pH, catalyst dosage, and initial dye concentration were investigated. It was found that by increasing pH to 9, the highest amount of degradation was obtained. It had also been observed that as the catalyst dosage decreased from 0.2 to 0.1 g, the degradation rate increased from 31.7% to 99.1%. Quenching tests within the presence of •O 2 − radical scavenger (benzoquinone), •OH − radical scavenger (isopropyl alcohol), and h + radical scavenger (ammonium oxalate) showed that the main oxidizing species were •O 2 − radicals. Furthermore, the magnetic measurements showed that the prepared powders had enough magnetic properties to recycle photocatalysts following water treatment.