High Photocatalytic Performance in the Photodegradation of MB Dye of Photocatalytic Efficiency of ZnO/Fe3O4 and TiO2/Fe3O4 Under Visible Light Irradiation

Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanorods and titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanostructures thin films were prepared onto glass substrates by the chemical bath deposition (CBD) method. The ZnO was structured as nanorods (NRs) while TiO2 was formed as nanoflowers plate as confirmed by Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) images. The ZnO/Fe3O4 and TiO2/Fe3O4 nanostructures thin films were prepared via drop-casting Fe3O4 NPs onto the grown ZnO and TiO2 nanostructures thin films. The diameter of Fe3O4 NPs was deposited onto ZnO NRs thin films and TiO2 nanostructures thin films was ranged from 8nm to 59nm with dominated range between 10nm to 30 nm.  The crystalline structure of prepared samples was investigated through X-ray diffraction (XRD) method. However, the particles size of Fe3O4  was estimated  by XRD as well as FESEM images was around 22 nm. The photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared ZnO/Fe3O4 and TiO2/Fe3O4 nanostructures thin films was investigated against methylene blue (MB) dye at room temperature with a pH value of 10 under different exposure time by visible light. The photodegradation rate of MB dye by ZnO/Fe3O4 and TiO2/Fe3O4 nanostructures thin films was higher than that obtained by ZnO and TiO2 nanostructures thin films. The best photodegradation rate of MB dye was 100% after exposure time of 180 min was obtained by ZnO/Fe3O4 nanostructures thin film whereas it was 82% for TiO2/Fe3O4 nanostructures thin films after exposure time of  240 min.