Development and Characterization of MoO3 / NiFe2O4 Nanocomposite Photocatalyst for Organic Pollutants Removal towards Sustainable Water Remediation

Abstract Photocatalysis is emerging as one of the most important methods for wastewater treatment. Azo dyes are a prominent class of water pollutants that disrupt the balance of the water ecosystem due to its toxicity. Various met.al oxides and their composites are effective in dye degradation due to their band gap range and porosity. Herein, the efficiency of MoO₃/NiFe₂O₄ nanocomposite as a photocatalyst on the degradation of congo red dye for water remediation is studied. MoO₃/NiFe₂O₄ nanocomposite was fabricated by ultrasonication using nickel ferrite nanoparticles prepared from sol-gel autocombustion method and α-MoO₃ nanorods were prepared by hydrothermal method. The phase identification of samples was carried out using X- Ray Diffraction (XRD). The spinel structure of NiFe₂O₄ was confirmed using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) image of ferrite exhibits the formation of nearly spherical particles and Selected Area Electron Diffractometry (SAED) pattern indicates polycrystalline nature. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images of MoO₃ confirm its nanorod morphology. The Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) image of nanocomposites disclose attachment of spherical nanoferrite in MoO₃ nanorods. The elemental composition of the composite is determined by Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDAX) and X-Ray Photoelectron Spectra (XPS) analysis. The photocatalytic activity of samples on Congo Red was studied using UV-Visible spectrophotometry and the effect of composition of nanocomposite were studied. MoO₃ / NiFe₂O₄ nanocomposite is found to exhibit maximum efficiency of 74.47% in 30 minutes whereas NiFe₂O₄ removes only 49.40% and MoO₃ 52.04%. The scavenger study indicates that the reactive species involved in the reaction mechanism is .OH free radical.The antibacterial activity of the samples on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was studied by the well diffusion method.