Synthesis and characterization of magnetite nanoparticles for photocatalysis of nitrobenzene

The present work shows the photocatalytic degradation of nitrobenzene (NB) using Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) as a photocatalyst in the presence of UV light. The MNP were synthesized by an ultrasonic-assisted reverse co-precipitation (US-RP) method using FeSO₄, FeCl₃ and NH₄OH as precursors. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized by UV–vis spectroscopy, attenuated total reflectance Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (ATR FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Dynamic light scattering (DLS), Zeta potential, Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and Magnetic thermogravimetric analysis (MTGA). The successive decrement in the absorbance at 265 nm shows the effective decrease in NB concentration measured by UV–vis spectroscopy. The reaction intermediates detected by gas chromatography/mass spectrum (GC/MS) were 2-nitrophenol (2-NPh), 3-nitrophenol (3-NPh) and 4-nitrophenol (4-NPh). The prepared MNP showed an optimal NB degradation at an initial pH of 2 and 100 ppm of the photocatalyst.