Sonochemical synthesis of novel ZnFe2O4/CeO2 heterojunction with highly enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity

Abstract An eco-friendly ZnFe 2 O 4 /CeO 2 nanocomposites as visible light photocatalysts with different mole ratios were successfully fabricated by sonochemical method. The nanocomposites material was characterized various analytical techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area analysis (BET). The synthesized ZnFe 2 O 4 /CeO 2 nanocomposites were used to remove malachite green (MG) as a model organic pollution under visible light irradiation. The enhanced photocatalytic activity was described with the term was increased a light absorption intensity enable too appeared a bandgap present in the electron transfer, scavengers of the reactive species and charge prolonged photogenerated carriers. Results showed that the ZnFe 2 O 4 /CeO 2 nanocomposite in a 0.5:0.5 mol ratio exhibited the superior photocatalytic activity towards wastewater treatment. The synthesized catalyst having capability for enhance photoactive nanocomposites open up a new opportunities in various areas in photocatalysis.