Unique Magnetically Separable MnFe2O4/HAP Nanocomposite Photocatalyst for the Removal of Dye Pollutants

In this present work, co-precipitation approach was employed to produce manganese ferrite (MnFe2O4) nanoparticles and hydroxyapatite (HAP) obtained from microwave assisted co-precipitation method was loaded on the synthesized MnFe2O4 to produce MnFe2O4/HAP nanocomposite which is used for the application as photocatalyst. The appearance of sharp peaks in the XRD diffractogram for MnFe2O4 shows high degree of crystallinity. The presence of flaky spherical agglomerate morphology was confirmed through SEM analysis. The distinct and sharp peaks at 563 cm-1 and 411cm-1 in the FT-IR spectra confirm the presence of ferrite phase. Diffuse reflectance analysis confirms that the as prepared photocatalysts absorb light in the visible region. The energy gap values of as-synthesized MnFe2O4 nanoparticles and MnFe2O4/HAP nanocomposite calculated using Tauc plot were found to be 1.7 eV and 1.5eV respectively. Photocatalytic activity of MnFe2O4 and MnFe2O4/HAP nanocomposites was ascertained for BV3 dye degradation under the illumination of visible light in aqueous solution. The results revealed that the degradation efficiency of 85.35 % and 93.24 % was achieved with MnFe2O4 nanoparticles and MnFe2O4/HAP nanocomposite respectively owing to the higher crystallinity and simultaneous adsorption capacity of MnFe2O4/HAP nanocomposite photocatalyst compared to MnFe2O4 nanoparticles.