Novel direct dual-Z-scheme ZnO-Er2O3-Nd2O3@reduced graphene oxide heterostructured nanocomposite: Synthesis, characterization and superior antibacterial and photocatalytic activity

Novel direct dual Z-scheme ZnO-Er2O3-Nd2O3@rGO heterostructured nanocomposite along with simple ZnO-Er2O3-Nd2O3 nanocomposite was prepared by co-precipitation route. The X-ray diffraction pattern exhibited the diffraction peaks associated with ZnO (hexagonal), Er2O3 (cubic), and Nd2O3 (hexagonal) in both nanocomposites. The FTIR spectra further confirmed the formation of nanocomposites. The energy bandgap of simple and rGO decorated nanocomposites were 3.1 and 2.82 eV. The antibacterial characteristics of grown samples showed that the rGO anchored nanocomposite has higher antibacterial activity as compared to simple nanocomposite. The ZnO-Er2O3-Nd2O3@rGO nanocomposite exhibited higher photodegradation (97.0%) against methylene blue (MB) than simple nanocomposite (86.0%). The effectiveness of grown ZnO-Er2O3-Nd2O3@rGO nanocomposite as photocatalyst was also tested for degradation of other dyes such as RhB, MO, CR, and SO. The effect of operating parameters was investigated for ZnO-Er2O3-Nd2O3@rGO nanocomposite. A possible conventional heterojunction and Z-scheme for the degradation using ZnO-Er2O3-Nd2O3@rGO nanocomposite has been designed to elucidate the photocatalytic mechanism.