Visible light assisted photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue using iodine doped Fe3O4-GO composite

Abstract

Environmental contamination and wastewater discharge from industrial activities are global issues that must be addressed immediately. The uncontrolled discharge of dangerous organic compounds constitutes a significant environmental risk. To solve this issue, heterogeneous photocatalysis with semiconductor metal oxides has appeared as an environmentally benign method for wastewater treatment. Our research aims to create a new iodine-doped magnetic graphene oxide nanocomposite and test its ability to break down the refractory methylene blue dye by photocatalytic techniques using sunlight. The I-Fe3O4-GO composite was synthesized using a facile ultrasonication-assisted co-precipitation method. Several physiochemical techniques were employed for detailed characterization, including SEM-EDX, XRD, FTIR, UV-Vis DRS, and Raman spectroscopy. The band gap value of 2.6 eV was measured using a tauc plot. The I-Fe3O4-GO nanocomposite showed 95% methylene blue degradation under sunlight in about an hour. The improved catalytic efficiency of the synthesized photocatalyst was attained at pH 8, with an I-FeGO dose of 50 mg/100 mL and an oxidant dose of 14 mM. The photocatalyst displayed exceptional photostability after five consecutive reusability cycles. Response surface methodology was the statistical tool for evaluating several interacting parameters for optimizing dye degradation.