Hybridization of gallium oxide with magnetic graphene oxide toward a low cost and reusable photocatalyst

Abstract

The level of contamination in water and air is rising rapidly in the world. To detect and remove organic and inorganic pollutant from wastewater and air, many photocatalytic nanocomposites have been introduced. In this research, we reported the fabrication of gallium oxide with magnetic graphene oxide (GO) which performs as a photocatalyst. Here, gallium oxy hydro oxide (GaOOH) was prepared with gallium nitrate and oxalic acid by hydrothermal method and finally gallium oxide (Ga2O3) was prepared by calcination at 450 ºC for 3h. Gallium oxide was fabricated by magnetic graphene oxide (MGO) where graphene oxide and magnetite were prepared by Hummers method and co-precipitation method, respectively. The synthesized nanocomposite magnetic graphene oxide gallium oxide (MGO-Ga2O3) was characterized using x-ray photo electron spectroscopy (XPS), x-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive x-ray (EDX), fourier- transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and magnetization. Wide scan spectra of XPS determined the chemical composition of the photocatalyst and the high resolution of XPS determined the bonding nature of this photocatalyst. The phase structure and crystallization of MGO-Ga2O3 were identified by XRD. The FE-SEM and TEM images indicated the morphology of this photocatalyst. FTIR spectra ensured the functional group and TGA confirmed about thermo stability of this nanocomposite. Magnetic properties of MGO-Ga2O3 were measured by vibrating-sample magnetometer at room temperature and showed that this nanocomposite is paramagnetic. Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MeO) dye by UV-irradiation were investigated and the degradation rates were 93% and 55%, respectively.