Electrochemical and Photocatalytic Applications of Silver-doped Cobalt Ferrite Anchored on Graphene Sheets

The current study discusses the hydrothermal production of anAg-CoFe2O4/rGO nanocomposite as a photocatalyst using silver and cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) nanoparticles attached to the surface of reduced graphene oxide. The influence of Ag and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) on the structural, optical, magnetic, photocatalytic, and electrochemical performance of CoFe2O4 is investigated using a variety of analytical techniques. The graphene sheets are exfoliated and adorned with well-dispersed Ag and CoFe2O4 nanoparticles, according to the findings. With the addition of Ag ions, UV-visible spectra indicate a gradual shift in the absorption edge towards higher wavelengths, indicating fluctuation in the samples’ energy gap. The photoluminescence results reveal that graphene can improve the photocatalytic activity of the Ag-CoFe2O4/rGO nanocomposite by reducing electron-hole recombination. In this regard, the Ag-CoFe2O4/rGO nanocomposite outperforms the CoFe2O4 and Ag-CoFe2O4 photocatalysts in the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye, demonstrating that rGO plays a key role in the Ag-CoFe2O4/rGO nanocomposite. Under visible light irradiation, the deterioration rate of the samples is determined to be in the order of CoFe2O4(78.03%), Ag-CoFe2O4(83.04%), and Ag-CoFe2O4/rGO(93.25%) in 100 minutes for MB dye, respectively. M-H hysteresis loop results validate the samples’ ferromagnetic behaviour at room temperature. Overall, the Ag-CoFe2O4/rGO nanocomposite appears to be an effective magnetic photocatalyst for wastewater treatment. Using cyclic voltammetry (CV), the electrochemical performance of all samples was investigated, revealing that the Ag-CoFe2O4/rGO nanocomposite beats the other samples in terms of rate performance and cycle stability.

Author(s) Details:

M. A. Majeed Khan,
King Abdullah Institute for Nanotechnology, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia.

Wasi Khan,
Department of Physics, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, India.

Maqusood Ahamed,
King Abdullah Institute for Nanotechnology, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia.

Jahangeer Ahmed,
Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.

Please see the link here: https://stm.bookpi.org/RTCAMS-V7/article/view/6100