Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2018) 133: 229
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2018-12063-5

Regular Article

Sugarcane juice facilitated eco-friendly synthesis of solar light active CdFe₂O₄ nanoparticles and its photocatalytic application

¹ Department of Studies and Research in Industrial Chemistry School of Chemical Sciences, Kuvempu University, 577451, Shankaragatta, India
² Department of Chemistry, Siddaganga Institute of Technology, 572103, Tumakuru, India
³ Department of Chemistry, Gokhale centenary college, 581314, Ankola, India

^* e-mail: hsb_naik@rediffmail.com

Received: 5 January 2018
Accepted: 9 May 2018
Published online: 19 June 2018

Abstract

Herein, a highly solar light active CdFe₂O₄ nanocatalyst was synthesized by a combustion method using sugarcane juice as a fuel calcinated at 600 ^° C about 4h. This was characterized by various analytical and spectroscopic techniques. Furthermore, the application of the solar-light-induced catalytic degradation procedure in the decline of methylene blue (MB) dye using CdFe₂O₄ (CdFe) was measured here. The degradation percentage of MB dye reached 96% under natural solar light, thus the resulting CdFe NPs exhibited a highly solar active photocatalyst. Moreover, the kinetics of the reaction, an effect of the p H solution, an initial concentration of MB dye, light sources and catalyst loading, photocatalytic activity over different organic dyes, the effect of scavengers with the mechanism of degradation were systematically studied here. This work can influence an effective method for waste water treatment in textile industries.