Synthesis of Ag-Fe3O4 nanoparticles for degradation of methylene blue in aqueous medium

Abstract

Fe₃O₄ known as magnetite is one of the oxides of iron which plays a major role in various fields of sciences. Fe₃O₄ was synthesized by precipitation method using NH₃.H₂O, FeCl₂.4H₂O and FeCl₃.6H₂O as precursor materials. For synthesis of 5% Ag-Fe₃O₄, the green synthetic method was used for immobilization of Ag nanoparticles on Fe₃O₄ using leaves extract of Calotropis gigantea plant. The synthesized Fe₃O₄ and 5% Ag-Fe₃O₄ were employed as catalyst in degradation of methylene blue. The photo catalytic activity of Fe₃O₄ was remarkably enhanced by doping of Fe₃O₄ with Ag nanoparticles. Advanced instrumental techniques including XRD, EDX, TGA and SEM were used for characterization of synthesized particles. The immobilization of Ag on Fe₃O₄ enhanced the photo degradation of methylene blue from 40 to 72% at 40 °C which confirms that 5% Ag-Fe₃O₄ is an active catalyst for treatment of dye contaminated water. Ag-Fe₃O₄ exhibited almost same catalytic activity in two successive cycles.

Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2020, 34(1), 123-134. 

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v34i1.11