Development of AgFeo₂/RgO/tio₂ ternary composite photocatalysts for enhanced photocatalytic dye decolorization

Dyestuff is one of the most widely released pollutants into the environment. Many approaches have been considered to deal with the dye removal from polluted water such as adsorption, ultrafiltration, osmosis, solvent extraction and photocatalytic degradation. The photocatalytic degradation process is one of the most beneficial, economical and environmentally friendly ways to degrade the organic pollutants from wastewater. In this study, an efficient ferrite-based photocatalyst, AgFeO₂/rGO/TiO₂ was successfully developed using simple deposition and reflux method. Physical, chemical and structural properties were analyzed by using XRD, FTIR Raman and PL spectroscopy. The efficiency of photocatalyst was investigated for the decolorization of methyl blue (MB) dye and activity was measured through UV-vis spectroscopy. The effect of parameters like pH, concentrations of MB dye, and loading of silver ferrite (AgFeO₂) was investigated. The study depicted that the properties of TiO₂ were improved due to addition of silver ferrite and reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The 2.5% AgFeO₂/rGO/TiO₂ exhibited the highest efficiency and completely degraded the 50 ppm of MB dye in 30 min. The parametric study revealed that dye decolorization is faster in a neutral solution than in basic and acidic medium. The higher performance of the photocatalyst was attributed to the reduced charge recombination and improved optical properties. Thus, AgFeO₂/rGO/TiO₂ can be a potential composite for photocatalytic dye degradation and other photocatalytic applications under UV-Visible light irradiations.