A novel photocatalytic degradation of mixed dye through chemically synthesized ZnO/Fe₂O₃ nanocomposite

This study reported the synthesis and assessment of zinc oxide/iron oxide (ZnO/Fe₂O₃) nanocomposite as photocatalysts for the degradation of a mixture of methylene red and methylene blue dyes. X-ray diffraction analysis confirms that the crystallite of zinc oxide (ZnO) has a hexagonal wurtzite phase and iron oxide (Fe₂O₃) has a rhombohedral phase. Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectrum confirms the presence of Zn–O vibration stretching at 428, 480 and 543 cm⁻¹ stretching confirming Fe–O bond formation. Scanning Electron Microscope images exhibited a diverse size and shape of the nanocomposites. The ZnO-90%/Fe₂O₃-10% and ZnO-10%/Fe₂O₃-90% nanocomposites reveal good photocatalytic activity with reaction rate constants of 1.5 × 10⁻² and 0.66 × 10⁻²; and 1.3 × 10⁻² and 0.60 × 10⁻² for methylene blue and methyl red dye respectively. The results revealed that the synthesized ZnO/Fe₂O₃ nanocomposite is the best catalyst for dye degradation and can be used for industrial applications in future.