Syarifah Nihlah Yahya, Nurul Imani Istiqomah, Emi Kurnia Sari, Nining Sumawati Asri, Mahardika Yoga Darmawan, Rivaldo Marsel Tumbelaka, Nanang Adrianto, Edi Suharyadi
Organic dye water pollutant is known for its harmful effects on environmental and public health due to its toxicity. The photocatalysis method is employed to reduce organic dye pollutant to a less dangerous state. TiO2 exhibits high photocatalytic activity and stability, yet in scenarios with concentrated waste and high TiO2 levels, light penetration to reach the catalyst surface can be challenging. To address this, TiO2 is combined with silver (Ag) to enhance light absorption through a plasmonic effect. Additionally, the combination with iron oxide (Fe3O4) aims to help easy separation from the pollutant using an external magnetic field, resulting in the Fe3O4/Ag/TiO2 nanocomposite. In this study, green synthesis of Fe3O4/Ag/TiO2 using Moringa oleifera leaf extract and varying AgNO3 concentrations (0, 20, 60, and 100 mM) was successfully explored. The Fe3O4/Ag/TiO2 composite was applied to degrade 7 ppm of MB under UV light for 120 min. X-ray diffraction confirmed the presence of spinel Fe3O4, Ag, and TiO2 (anatase) phases, with particles sized at 37.82 nm according to transmission electron microscopy. Electron dispersive X-ray spectroscopy revealed Fe, O, Ag, and Ti weight percentages of 33.4 %, 37.1 %, 8.3 %, and 21.2 %, respectively. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed functional groups such as O–H, N–H, Fe-O, and TiO2-Ag at specific wavenumbers. UV–visible spectrometry showed a bandgap energy of 1.69 eV while vibrating sample magnetometry demonstrated superparamagnetic properties with a saturation magnetization of 21.13 emu/g with a domain size of about 7.4 emu/g Oe−1. The degradation results, reaching up to 97.6 % and have good stability for reusable photocatalysis process. Fe3O4/Ag/TiO2 nanocomposite shows the promise for efficient degradation of organic dye water pollutants in various environmental applications. © 2024 Elsevier B.V.
Department of Physics, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia; Department of Physics, Institut Teknologi Kalimantan, Balikpapan, Indonesia; Research Center for Advanced Materials, National Research and Innovation Agency, Tangerang Selatan, Indonesia; Department of Physics, Institut Teknologi Sumatera, Lampung, Indonesia