Heterojunction of N/B/RGO and g-C3N4 anchored magnetic ZnFe2O4@ZnO for promoting UV/Vis-induced photo-catalysis and in vitro toxicity studies

To promote the low photocatalytic efficiency caused by the recombination of electron/hole pairs and widen the photo-response wavelength window, ZnFe 2 O 4 @ZnO-N/B/RGO and ZnFe 2 O 4 @ZnO-C 3 N 4 ternary heterojunction nanophotocatalysts were designed and successfully prepared through a sol–gel technique. In comparison to bare ZnFe 2 O 4 and ZnO, the ZnFe 2 O 4 -ZnO@N/B/RGO and ZnFe 2 O 4 @ZnO-C 3 N 4 ternary products showed highly improved photocatalytic properties in the degradation of methyl orange (MO) under ultra-violet (UV) and visible light irradiation. Various physicochemical properties of the photocatalysts were evaluated through field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) techniques. The observations indicated that the ternary heterojuncted ZnFe 2 O 4 @ZnO-N/B/RGO absorbs lower energy visible light wavelengths, which is an enhancement in the photocatalytic properties of ZnFe 2 O 4 @ZnO loaded on reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanosheets and graphite-like carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ). This gives the catalyst photo-Fenton degradation properties.