Boosted photocatalytic performance of cobalt ferrite anchored g-CN nanocomposite toward various emerging environmental hazardous pollutants degradation: insights into stability and Z-scheme mechanism.

In this study, a highly efficient CoFeO-anchored g-CN nanocomposite with Z-scheme photocatalyst was developed by facile calcination and hydrothermal technique. To evaluate the crystalline structure, sample surface morphology, elemental compositions, and charge conductivity of the as-synthesized catalysts by various characterization techniques. The high interfacial contact of CoFeO nanoparticles (NPs) with g-CN nanosheets reduced the optical bandgap from 2.67 to 2.5 eV, which improved the charge carrier separation and transfer. The photo-degradation of methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (Rh B) aqueous pollutant suspension under visible-light influence was used to investigate the photocatalytic degradation activity of the efficient CoFeO/g-CN composite catalyst. The heterostructured spinel CoFeO anchored g-CN photocatalysts (PCs) with Z-scheme show better photocatalytic degradation performance for both organic dyes. Meanwhile, the efficiency of aqueous MB and Rh B degradation in 120 and 100 min under visible-light could be up to 91.1% and 73.7%, which is greater than pristine g-CN and CoFeO catalysts. The recycling stability test showed no significant changes in the photo-degradation activity after four repeated cycles. Thus, this work provides an efficient tactic for the construction of highly efficient magnetic PCs for the removal of hazardous pollutants in the aquatic environment.