Construction of mesoporous ZnFe2O4-g-C3N4 nanocomposites for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of acridine orange dye under visible light illumination adopting soft- and hardtemplate-assisted routines

In this investigation, triblock copolymer surfactant (F-108) as a soft template and mesoporous silica (MCM-41) as a hard template were endorsed to establish mesoporous ZnFe2O4-g-C3N4 nanocomposites of improved features. Photocatalytic remediation of acridine orange dye was endorsed to test the efficiency of the established nanocomposites when exposed to visible light. It has been affirmed by the surface characterization investigation that established nanocomposites acquired improved specific surface areas when correlated with the surface areas of both pure ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles (NPs) and pure g-C3N4 nanosheets. In addition, TEM analysis depicted that ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles (NPs) are homogenously spread on the g-C3N4 surface. Besides, synthesized ZnFe2O4-g-C3N4 nanocomposite accommodating 3wt.% ZnFe2O4 NPs exhibited reinforced efficacy against photocatalytic decomposition of acridine orange dye when related to that of neat mesoporous ZnFe2O4 NPs as well as that of g-C3N4 nanosheets. Evidently, the photocatalytic remediation achievement of acridine orange acquired by 3 wt.% ZnFe2O4@g-C3N4 nanocompositeswas found to be 4.4 times the achievement acquired by neat mesoporous ZnFe(2)O(4)NPs. At the same time, itwas 6.3 times the achievement acquired byneat g-C3N4 nanosheets. The fast transference of the reactantmolecules through the mesoporous texture, the suppressed rate of the photoinduced charges' recombination, the boosted separation between charges, the diminished band gap energy besides the extended surface area of the synthesized nanocomposites could be considered the most important considerations that contribute strongly to the superior photocatalytic achievement of the synthesized ZnFe2O4-g-C(3)N(4-)nanocomposite towardsphotocatalytic remediationofacridineorangedye. Furthermore, the homogenous distribution of the small-sized ZnFe2O4 NPs onto the nanosheets' surface participated also the photocatalytic progression of the synthesized nanocomposites. The regenerated ZnFe2O4-g-C3N4 nanocomposite exhibited extensive stability and durability even after recycling up to five runs. (c) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

In this study, mesoporous ZnFe2O4-g-C3N4 nanocomposites were successfully synthesized using triblock copolymer surfactant as a soft template and mesoporous silica as a hard template. The nanocomposites exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity, with 3 wt.% ZnFe2O4@g-C3N4 nanocomposites achieving 4.4 times the photocatalytic efficiency of neat mesoporous ZnFe2O4 NPs and 6.3 times that of g-C3N4 nanosheets. The improved performance can be attributed to factors such as fast reactant diffusion, suppressed charge recombination, increased charge separation, reduced band gap energy, and extended surface area of the synthesized nanocomposites. Additionally, the homogeneous distribution of ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles on the nanosheets' surface contributed to the photocatalytic properties of the nanocomposites, which also exhibited excellent stability and durability after multiple recycling runs.