White LED-based photocatalytic treatment using recoverable cobalt ferrite nanoparticles

TL;DR

This study develops recoverable cobalt ferrite nanoparticles for photocatalytic degradation of dyes under white LED light, demonstrating high efficiency and enhanced performance with hydrogen peroxide addition.

Contribution

It introduces a sol-gel synthesized cobalt ferrite nanoparticle photocatalyst and evaluates its effectiveness under white LED light, including the enhancement with hydrogen peroxide.

Findings

Decomposed 95% of dye after 150 minutes without H2O2.

Achieved over 90% dye decomposition within 90 minutes with H2O2.

Nanoparticles characterized by XRD, SEM, Raman, and IR spectroscopy.

Abstract

Contamination of freshwater sources has been alarming due to the widespread use of toxic chemicals in various industries. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) such as photocatalysis are widely explored to tackle such problems. In photocatalysis, highly oxidative species such as hydroxyl radicals (*OH) are produced with the help of some semiconductor photocatalysts and light. A photocatalyst decomposes these toxic organic compounds in the presence of light. Spinel ferrite (MFe2O4, M = Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, etc.) materials are an important candidate as a photocatalyst due to their semiconducting behaviour and narrow optical bandgap. In this work, we have synthesized cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) nanoparticles using the sol-gel method and subsequently annealed at 500{\deg}C. The nanoparticles are characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Raman, and Infrared spectroscopy for structural analysis. The band gap of the material is evaluated using UV-visible spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity of the material is investigated using methyl orange and methylene blue aqueous solutions as a model dye and a low-power white LED as a light source. The material could decompose 95 % of the dye after 150 minutes of irradiation. Adding hydrogen peroxide further improves the decomposition rate, with over 90 % decomposition achieved within 90 minutes.