Synthesis and characterization of magnetite nanoparticles for photocatalysis of nitrobenzene

Publication date: Available online 25 December 2019Source: Journal of Saudi Chemical SocietyAuthor(s): Victor Alfredo Reyes Villegas, Jesús Isaías De León Ramírez, Esteban Hernandez Guevara, Sergio Perez Sicairos, Lilia Angelica Hurtado Ayala, Bertha Landeros SanchezAbstractThe present work shows the photocatalytic degradation of nitrobenzene (NB) using Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) as a photocatalyst in the presence of UV light. The MNP were synthesized by an ultrasonic-assisted reverse co-precipitation (US-RP) method using FeSO4, FeCl3 and NH4OH as precursors. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, attenuated total reflectance Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (ATR FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Dynamic light scattering (DLS), Zeta potential, Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and Magnetic thermogravimetric analysis (MTGA). The successive decrement in the absorbance at 265 nm shows the effective decrease in NB concentration measured by UV-vis spectroscopy. The reaction intermediates detected by gas chromatography/mass spectrum (GC/MS) were 2-nitrophenol (2-NPh), 3-nitrophenol (3-NPh) and 4-nitrophenol (4-NPh). The prepared MNP showed an optimal NB degradation at an initial pH of 2 and 100 ppm of the photocatalyst.Graphical abstract
Source: Journal of Saudi Chemical Society - Category: Chemistry Source Type: research