Immobilization of nanostructured NiFe2O4 on mesoporous TiO2 as an efficient Z-scheme photocatalyst for high-performance photocatalytic degradation

In the present study, the synthesis of nickel ferrite nanoparticles immobilized on mesoporous TiO 2 was investigated to produce an efficient photocatalyst. For this aim, nickel ferrite nanoparticles were synthesized via a citrate-nitrate method, and then a modified surfactant-assisted procedure was employed to immobilize nanostructured NiFe 2 O 4 on mesoporous TiO 2 . In order to study the photocatalytic properties of the samples, the photodegradation of methyl orange under solar simulated irradiation was examined. The fabricated samples were assessed using SEM, TEM, XRD, BET, and UV-DRS. For indirect transitions, the energy band gap values were determined to be 3.22 eV for mesoporous TiO 2 and 3.15 eV for the NiFe 2 O 4 /TiO 2 sample. Immobilization of nanostructured NiFe 2 O 4 on mesoporous TiO 2 caused an anisotropic lattice distortion in the titania structure. The kinetic constant for methyl orange photodegradation by TiO 2 /30wt.%NiFe 2 O 4 reached 0.0153 min − 1 under solar simulated irradiation, which was 4.6 times greater than that of pure NiFe 2 O 4 , 3.1 times that of mesoporous TiO 2 , and 2.5 times that of TiO 2 /20wt.%NiFe 2 O 4 . The possible photodegradation mechanism of the synthesized nanocomposite was proposed. The demonstrated recyclability of these composites highlights their potential as sustainable materials for high-efficiency wastewater treatment.