Collocation of MnFe2O4 and UiO-66-NH2: An efficient and reusable nanocatalyst for achieving high-performance in hexavalent chromium reduction

Nowadays, removing heavy metals from surface and groundwater is very essential to maintain environmental health. Usage of the solar spectrum as one of the renewable and green energy sources in the photocatalyst field can help to remove environmental pollutants. In this paper, UiO-66-NH2/MnFe2O4 paramagnetic nanocomposite was synthesized by the solvothermal method. A combination of PXRD, FTIR, VSM, TGA, FESEM, EDX-mapping, BET, and UV-Vis DRS analysis confirmed the formation of this ferrite/MOF nanocomposite. The bandgap energy of the nanocomposite was measured to be 2.5 eV, which can be shown that UiO-66-NH2 /MnFe2O4 is a promising photocatalyst in the visible light region. It was found that UiO-66-NH2/MnFe2O4 exhibited excellent photocatalytic Cr(VI) reduction performance under visible light irradiation. The pH and scavenger, which are two important factors in the photocatalytic reaction, were optimized through this work. To summarize, high efficiency and easy separation of the prepared ferrite/MOF nanocomposite are the advantages of this work. (C) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.