Search

The fabrication of environmentally friendly materials for wastewater remediation represents a promising approach. Thus, we present the fabrication of nanostructured CoFe2O4 (CF) particles entangled within a hydrogel-based matrix composed of carboxy methyl cellulose-psyllium-RGO (CPRHG/CF). The functionality, composition, and nature of the fabricated composite were characterized using FTIR, XRD, and XPS techniques. Furthermore, the internal and surface morphology was analyzed through FE-SEM and HR-TEM imaging. To assess the photo activity, UV-Vis and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy were employed, confirming that CPRHG/CF exhibits significant potential for light absorption in the visible spectrum while minimizing the charge recombination rate. The fabricated CPR/CFHG composite hydrogel was employed for the removal of pharmaceutical effluent, tramadol (TMD), via both adsorption and photocatalysis processes. In batch adsorption experiments lasting 2 hours, the composite hydrogel demonstrated impressive adsorption efficiency of 92.93% and a maximum adsorption capacity of 89.97 mg g-1. Subsequently, during photocatalytic treatment under 1 h of solar illumination, approximately 90.36% of the TMD was successfully degraded. The degradation process followed a pseudo-firstorder kinetics model with a rate constant (k1) of 0.0380 min-1. Furthermore, the investigation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) has identified superoxide radicals (O2 -) as the major species responsible for the degradation process, which was confirmed through radical scavenging experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]