SYNTHESIS AND APPLICATION OF COPPER FERRITE NANOPARTICLES IN PHOTO-CATALYTIC DEGRADATION OF ORGANIC DYES: A STEP TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT

  • Santosh Jengathe Department of Chemistry, Tai Golwalkar Mahavidyalaya, RTM Nagpur University, Ramtek, India
  • Nilesh Gandhare Department of Chemistry, Nabira Mahavidyalaya, RTM Nagpur University, Katol, India
  • Parvez Ali Center for Health Studies, Prince Sultan Military Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  • Mangesh B Thakre D. R. B. Sindhu Mahavidyalaya, Nagpur, India
  • Kailas A More Department of Chemistry, Nabira Mahavidyalaya, RTM Nagpur University, Katol, India
  • Nilesh G Jadhao Department of Chemistry, Nabira Mahavidyalaya, RTM Nagpur University, Katol, India
Keywords: CuFe2O4 NPs, Methyl Orange, Rhodamine B, Photo catalysis, Degradation.

Abstract

Water pollution caused due to organic dyes from various industries is a serious concern to the environment nowadays. Along with their severe toxicity to aquatic animals and humans, azo dyes are responsible for making up more than half of the dyes pollution. In this study, we have reported a cost effective, energy efficient, and environmentally benign method to degrade Methyl Orange and Rhodamine B dyes, using Copper Ferrite (CuFe2O4) nanoparticles as a photo catalyst. We have synthesized magnetic spinel copper ferrite (CuFe2O4) nanoparticles by co-precipitation method. The synthesized copper ferrite nanoparticles were characterized using FT-IR, XRD, SEM and TGA analysis. The synthesized nanoparticles consisted of equimolar mixture of CuO and α-Fe2O3 revealed from XRD studies. The diffraction pattern exhibited the corresponding Braggs reflections of these two oxides (Tetrahedral- CuFe2O4 and Cubic-CuFe2O4), with an average size of 15 nm. The efficacy of synthesized nanoparticles as photo catalyst has been demonstrated in the degradation of Rhodamine B and Methyl Orange under UV (Tungsten lamp light) irradiation. It was found that the adsorption of dyes onto the catalyst accelerated the degradation process. The percent degradation for Rhodamine B and Methyl Orange was found to be 92.88% and 86.04 % respectively in UV irradiation.
Published
2021-06-30