Photocatalytic degradation of textile dye direct orange 26 by using CoFe2O4/Ag2O

The magnetic and recyclable nanoparticles of CoFe2O4 were synthesized by a reverse co-precipitation process. Sonication was used to couple the CoFe2O4 surface with Ag2O. The characteristics and optical properties of the catalyst were studied by powder X-ray diffraction, UV–visible reflectance spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy analyses. Pure CoFe2O4 and CoFe2O4/Ag2O were utilized to determine the visible light photocatalytic degradation of Direct Orange 26. The effects of pH, the initial concentration of catalyst and initial dye concentration on the photocatalytic process were investigated. It was found that the presence of Ag2O remarkably improved the photocatalytic adsorption capacity and degradation efficiency of CoFe2O4­/Ag2O when compared with the pure CoFe2O4. Moreover, due to the magnetic behavior of CoFe2O4, these coupled nanoparticles can be easily separated from the aqueous solution by applying an external magnetic field. The prepared Ag2O-modified CoFe2O4 exhibited much higher (about 40%) photocatalytic activity than the unmodified one. The results showed that the loading of the Ag2O significantly improved the photocatalytic performance of the CoFe2O4 in which the Ag2O acted as a charge carrier to capture the delocalized electrons.