Modified composite Fe ₃ O ₄ /ZnO nanoparticles for environmental remediation Nompumelelo Sharol Mbali Kubheka 1 , E.N. Nxumalo a , M.E Managa a , M. Matlala b , Makwena. J. Moloto a 1 University of South Africa, South Africa, a Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability Research Unit, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, South Africa, b Department of Water and Sanitation, Pretoria Central, Pretoria One of the basic human needs for a dynamic and sustainable society is access to clean and contaminant-free water sources. SDG goal no. 6 is amongst the most essential goals in the Agenda-2063 SDGs. The presence of contaminants and emerging contaminants in water is a major challenge globally. Metal oxide nanoparticles are promising nanomaterials for ecological purposes. The crystallochemical properties, surface structure, sorption, and catalytic characteristics of Fe 3 O 4 /ZnO nanoparticles play a significant role in water treatment applications. This study focused on the fabrication of multifunctional modified composite ratios of Fe 3 O 4 /ZnO nanoparticles using the co-precipitation method. TEM images illustrated that the nanoparticles were a composite of agglomerated cubic and spherelike shapes. The EDX analysis and FTIR confirmed the elemental composition peaks and functional groups of the nanoparticles. XRD spectra confirmed the co-existence of Fe 3 O 4 (cubic) and ZnO (hexagonal wurzite) phases in the nanoparticles. The optical properties showed the band gap of energies of the composite were found to be 2.61 to 3.07 eV for the different composite nanoparticle ratios. All characterization techniques confirmed that the 1:1 ratio can be utilized as a visible light-responsive photocatalyst due to stronger emission peaks and intensity. The visible light absorption illustrated that the composite nanoparticles visible light was enhanced due to concentration increment. Furthermore, the combination of Fe 3 O 4 and ZnO results in enhanced remediation capabilities. References 1. Singh S, Barick KC, Bahadur D. Functional oxide nanomaterials and nanocomposites for the removal of heavy metals and dyes. Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology. 2013;3(1):1–19. 2. Goyal P, Chakraborty S, Misra SK. Multifunctional Fe3O4-ZnO nanocomposites for environmental remediation applications. Environ Nanotechnol Monit Manag. 2018;10:28–35. 3. Xu M, Li Q, Fan H. Monodisperse nanostructured Fe3O4/ZnO microrods using for waste water treatment. Advanced Powder Technology. 2014;25(6):1715–20. 4. Mahdavi S, Jalali M, Afkhami A. Removal of heavy metals from aqueous solutions using Fe3O4, ZnO, and CuO nanoparticles. Journal of Nanoparticle Research. 2012;14(8). 5. Shahsank M, Naik HSB, Nagaraju G, Keri RS, Naik MM, Lingaraju K. Facile Synthesis of Fe3O4 / ZnO Nanocomposite : Applications to Photocatalytic and Antibacterial Activities. J Electron Mater. 2021;50(6):3557–68. 6. Pham HL, Nguyen VH, Vu TT, Nguyen VK. Novel 3D hierarchical nanostructure of Fe3O4 / ZnO hybrid composites for enhanced solar light photocatalytic performance. Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics. 2021;32(20): 25018–32.
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