Tribulus terrestrias synthesized Fe₃O₄/ZnO nanocomposites for ultra-rapid methyl orange elimination using ultrasonic waves

The greener reduction of binding ingredient Tribulus seed powder produced a Fe₃O₄/ZnO semi-square nanocomposite using Zn(OAC)₂ and FeCl₃.5H₂O precursors. UV–vis absorbance spectroscopy showed large peaks at 319 nm for Fe₃O₄/ZnO nanocomposites with decreasing Zn(OAC)₂ and Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺. FTIR Spectra assign Fe₃O₄/ZnO nanoparticles the powerful excitation band at 671 cm⁻¹. XRD shows that the ZnO shell was produced without Fe₃O₄ nanoparticle phase change. SEM showed that the synthesised Fe₃O₄/ZnO particles were spherical and consolidated into an anisotropic material with a mean size of 18 nm, and EDAX-verified authenticity. BET analysis showed 105 m²g⁻¹ surface area, 10.50 nm pore size, and 0.278 cm³/g volume fraction for nanoparticles. Magnetic moments show that the ZnO shell in Fe₃O₄/ZnO NPs is largely responsible for the 12% decline in Fe₃O₄ magnetic moments. Synthesized Fe₃O₄/ZnO performed better for sonocatalytic degradation of Methyl orange (MO) under optimal conditions of 80 min, 20 mg/L, 1.00 g/L, and 50% ultrasonic irradiation time, solution pH, initial dye concentration, catalyst dosage, and ultrasonic intensity. Due to physic-sorption, the sonocatalyst Fe₃O₄/ZnO NCs degraded MO dye at 98.9% after 80 min. The apparent rate constant of Fe₃O₄/ZnO sonocatalyst for dye degradation demonstrates pseudo-first-order kinetics of MO dye (1.87 × 10–2 min⁻¹). Because of this, Fe₃O₄/ZnO NCs may be an effective dye pollutant sonocatalyst.