Green gelatin-assisted: Synthesis of Co3O4NPs@rGO nanopowder for highly efficient magnetically separable methylene orange dye degradation

Abstract GO and Co(NO3)2 were respectively used as rGO and Co3O4 precursors for preparing magnetically separable Co3O4NPs attached Co3O4NPs@rGO nanocomposites by a straightforward sol–gel technique. To characterize the nanocomposite materials, FESEM, EDX, elemental mapping, XRD, FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, UV–vis, VSM and BET were employed. When exposed to UV rays, the nanocomposite showed extraordinary photocatalytic degradation of MO dye. According to the measurements of photocatalytic activity, the highly efficient photocatalytic efficiency of the nanocomposite could be attributed to preventing electron-hole recombination by highly effective electron transfer between rGO and semiconductor NPs. The nanocomposite succeeded in the efficient degradation of MO dye, even after five photocatalytic cycles.