Fabrication and characterization of new ternary ferrites-chitosan nanocomposite for solar-light driven photocatalytic degradation of a model textile dye

The release of wastewater especially organic dyes from numerous industries is a big problem of the modern era due to its carcinogenic and other health hazard effects. Therefore, ternary ferrites chitosan microspheres (TFCM) were synthesized by a facile approach as an efficient visible-light photocatalyst for the removal of these toxic dyes. The crystallite size of synthesized ternary ferrite nanoparticles (TFNPs) was 10 nm confirmed through XRD using Scherer’s equation. The EDS spectrum clearly showed the elemental composition of TFNPs. The morphology of TFCM showed a smooth surface with a microspheres size of 923μm based on SEM micrographs. The mass loss in thermogravimetric analysis supports the presence of TFNPs in the chitosan matrix and the DSC showed different crystalline endothermic ranges for the TFNPs and the chitosan matrix. The bandgap of the photocatalyst was found in the visible region (2.36 eV) obtained from Tauc’s plot. The TFCM showed 93% photocatalytic efficiency for Methylene Blue (MB) dye at optimum conditions of pH 7.0, catalyst dosage 0.7 g, and initial dye concentration of 50 ppm in 150 min of sunlight irradiation. The experiment was carried out using preliminary screening followed by the optimization process using response surface methodology. The reduced quadratic model was considered as the most suitable model for degradation, showing highly significant p values and significant interaction among the different variable factors. In conclusion, the newly developed photocatalyst ought to be a better candidate for the decontamination of dyes from wastewater. [Display omitted] •Novel ternary ferrites chitosan microspheres (TFCC) were successfully synthesized.•Synthesis of TFCC was ascertained by characterizing with SEM, TEM, XRD, EDX, FTIR, TGA and DSC.•Highly efficient photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye was achieved.•Operating factors that influence the degradation phenomena were investigated.