Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalytic Decolorization of Azo Dye using Magnetic PANI/CuFe2O4/ZnO

Semiconductor research has demonstrated the main application in areas such as hydrogen production through photocatalytic water splitting [1], dye sensitized solar cells [2] and photocatalytic treatment of harmful organics from air and water [3]. Developing of efficient visible light responsive photocatalysts for environmental remediation has become the main area in photocatalysis research because of the usage of solar light [4]. For the actual applications, ZnO photocatalysts are usually not suitable due to the inconvenient and expensive separation [5], high photocorrosion [6], and low quantum efficiency resulted from its wide band gap (Eg= 3.37 eV) and the rapid recombination of photo-generated carriers [7]. In this regard, the modified ZnObased photocatalysis with conducting polymers such as PANI can respond to visible light region effectively [8]. Moreover, ZnObased photocatalysis coupled with conducting polymers are difficult to separate and recover from aqueous solution. In this regard, CuFe2O4 as the important magnetic materials have been utilized with photocatalysts and allowing easy separation of the photocatalysts from the liquid after the photocatalytic process [9].