Synthesis of Zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 based magnetic nanocomposite incorporated with silver nanoparticles for efficient removal of organic pollutants from wastewater

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are a new class of coordination polymers and porous materials which have a wide application in various scientific fields based on their dual structures. In this work, synthesis of γ-Fe2O3@SiO2@ZIF-8 magnetic nanocomposite for removal of organic pollutant from wastewater was studied. Then, for improving photocatalytic performance of this compound, silver nanoparticles were added into the ZIF-8 framework using photo-deposition method. Synthesized nanostructures were characterized using different structural analysis such as XRD, SEM/EDX, FTIR, ICP-OES and VSM. Next, the photodegradation performance of the prepared materials for removal of Rhodamine B were investigated by studying the effects of several parameters including photo-catalyst dosage, initial dye concentration and solution pH. The results showed that γ-Fe2O3@SiO2@ZIF-8-Ag photo-catalyst with the efficiency of 96% had the best performance in degradation of organic dye. Also, the stability tests showed that the synthesized photo-catalyst can maintain its appropriate activity after five cycles. Therefore, the proposed nanocomposite in this work seems to be a reusable and economical photocatalyst for water purification.