Synergistic engineering for adsorption assisted photodegradation of 2,4 dichlorophenol using easily recoverable ɑ-MnO2/Fe3O4 nanocomposite

Herein, a highly effective ɑ-MnO2/Fe3O4 nanocomposite was synthesized employing a hydrothermal process and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray diffraction, vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and UV–visible spectroscopy. The ɑ-MnO2/Fe3O4 photocatalyst flaunts two phases: magnetic magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles of 22±5 nm agglomerated on ɑ-MnO2 1-D nanowire of ∼1.5 µm length and 50±10 nm in diameter. The results exhibited ∼100% photocatalytic degradation of 2,4-DCP under UV-visible irradiation within 80 min at pH 9. The photocatalytic experimental values were fitted linearly with first-order reaction exhibiting k = 0.065 min−1, t1/2 = 10.45 min, and R2 = 0.98 for UV-visible light and k = 0.028 min−1, t1/2 = 34 min and R2 = 0.97 for reaction under sunlight. Additionally, the nanocomposite photocatalyst was easily recoverable using an external magnetic field at room temperature with high stability. Therefore, a simple synthesis method, a synergistic effect between ɑ-MnO2 and Fe3O4, an excellent adsorption-induced photocatalytic activity, easy magnetic recovery, and robustness for reusability make the nanocomposite an outstanding material for environmental sustainability and solar energy harvesting.