Synthesis, Characterization and Photocatalytic study of FeCr2O4@ZnO@MgO Core-Shell Nanoparticle

In the present work, the sol-gel derived powders of the chemical form FeCr2O4@ZnO@MgO core-shell, have been synthesized and used as a photocatalyst. The synthesized core-shell nanoparticles are characterized by various analytical techniques including FTIR, XRD, SEM-EDAX, and HR-TEM-SEAD. The successful performance of synthesized core-shell photocatalyst FeCr2O4@ZnO@MgO has been also demonstrated for the complete mineralization of Orange G dye. The effect of various operational parameters used in dye degradation such as concentration of dye, light intensity, amount of photocatalyst, the effect of light, and effect of electrolyte has been studied on the rate of reaction. TEM analysis clearly shows two layers of ZnO and MgO on FeCr2O4. The highest degradation rate was found with the concentration of Orange G dye 10 ppm, 0.8 g of FeCr2O4@ZnO@MgO, and time 50 min. The recyclability of the photocatalyst, FeCr2O4@ ZnO@MgO was performed up to four runs. The degradation mechanism has been established by using LC-MS analysis and it was used to track the numerous intermediate products formed during Orange G dye degradation.