Title : Green synthesis of Ni0.5Zn0.5AlFeO4 magnetic nanoparticles by tragacanth gel and its application as a photocatalyst for degradation of reactive blue 21 dye
Abstract:
n the last decade, preparing the nano catalyst via photocatalytic capability by using the green synthesis methods has been a favorite of researchers. Plant extracts for the biological synthesis of nanoparticles have received more attention because it is inexpensive, simple, environmentally benign and non-toxic. Further, the plant extracts are fortified by the variety of biomolecules like alkaloids, phenols, terpenoids, flavonoids and etc. In this paper, magnetic nanoparticle was synthesized using tragacanth gel as a biotemplate by the novel sol-gel method and its photocatalytic dye degradation ability from aqueous solution was studied. This method has many advantages such as nontoxic, economic viability, ease to scale up, less time consuming and environmental friendly approach for the synthesis of Ni0.5Zn0.5AlFeO4 magnetic nanoparticle without using any harmful chemicals.The characteristics of magnetic nanoparticles were investigated using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). The X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed the formation of Cubic phase MNPs with average crystallite size of 10 nm. Photocatalytic dye degradation by Ni0.5Zn0.5AlFeO4 magnetic nanoparticles were evaluated by UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The effects of catalyst dosage, initial dye concentration and visible light irradiation on dye degradation were investigated. The results demonstrated that the catalyst can degrade ca. 94% of the reactive blue 21 dye. The catalyst can be easily recovered by a simple magnetic separation and can be recycled six times with no significant loss of photocatalytic activity.
