Superparamagnetic TiO2/Fe3O4 Nanocomposite: Fabrication, Characterisation and Its Photocatalytic Efficacy Evaluation using Methylene Blue as Model Dye

Saravanakumar, Govinath (2024) Superparamagnetic TiO2/Fe3O4 Nanocomposite: Fabrication, Characterisation and Its Photocatalytic Efficacy Evaluation using Methylene Blue as Model Dye. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology.

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Abstract

Photocatalysis is a process that helps remove organic pollutants from wastewater by promoting the formation of radicals for the degradation process under the presence of UV light. TiO2 is known to be a good photocatalyst due to its photocatalytic properties and its stability. However, the recovery of the nanosized titanium dioxide is very difficult because of its small size and the inability of the oxide to be extracted, so this causes a wastage of materials in the form of spent catalysts. Therefore the nanocomposite TiO2/Fe3O4 has been synthesized to produce a photocatalyst that can be recoverable after photocatalytic degradation. The purpose of this study is to study the effect of Fe3O4 particles on the photocatalytic performance of titanium dioxide and to determine if the nanocomposite TiO2/Fe3O4 can be digested by acid digestion to separate the two compounds for further applications. TiO2/Fe3O4 was successfully synthesized using the coupling heterogeneous seeding approach. The nanocomposite was synthesized structurally, optically and magnetically with various analytical methods. The X-ray diffraction showed the nanocomposite to have nanostructures and they exist in the rutile phase. FESEM-EDX analysis proved that the nanoparticles are spherical and uniform in shape plus the EDX mapping showed that Titanium and Iron atoms are equally distributed throughout the sample. The zeta potential analysis showed that the nanocomposite has a higher stability compared to Fe3O4. The FTIR analysis displayed bondings for C-N stretching and O-H bending to indicate the presence of PVP on the sample. By using UV-Visible spectroscopy, the bandgap of TiO2/Fe3O4 was determined to be 1.80hv. The magnetic properties of the nanocomposite have been recorded and they are found to be paramagnetic. The photocatalyst TiO2/Fe3O4 managed to degrade Methylene blue at 14% , 24% and 62% for concentrations of 10ppm, 5 ppm and 2 ppm. The acid digestion of TiO2/Fe3O4 was successfully done and the efficiency of the digestion of Iron in the sample was at 82%.