Development of internal electric field induced NiFe2O4/CdO p-n nano-heterojunctions for solar light activated photodegradation of methylene blue dye

NiFe2O4/CdO nanocomposites were prepared using a facile co-precipitation method. A series of characterization techniques such as X-rays diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and UV-Visible absorbance spectroscopy were performed to validate that weight percentage of CdO can efficiently manage the textural characterization, crystal size, and other parameters meant for photocatalysis. Experimental findings have shown that the weight percentage of CdO has an influential effect on the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) under solar irradiation. Compared with bare NiFe2O4, all NiFe2O4/CdO composites have shown better photocatalytic activity. Among all composites, NiFe2O4/CdO composite with 15% CdO has displayed the best photocatalytic efficiency (72%) for MB degradation. The enhanced photocatalytic activity may be ascribed to the delayed electron-hole recombination and availability of active sites for degradation. Furthermore, NiFe2O4/CdO composite could quickly be recovered from the solution using a magnet. Intermediate species trapping experiments have shown that photocatalysis by NiFe2O4/CdO is highly dependent on superoxide radicals.

Automated summary

NiFe2O4/CdO nanocomposites were prepared using a co-precipitation method, and the weight percentage of CdO had a significant impact on the photocatalytic performance of the composites. Among all the composites, the one with 15% CdO exhibited the best photocatalytic efficiency.