Photocatalytic aspect of rGO/MnFe2O4 as an efficient magnetically retrievable catalyst for reduction of nitroaromatic compounds under visible-light irradiation

In this work a binary photocatalyst of rGO and MnFe2O4 was prepared completely using one-pot hydrothermal simple method. In this way, in a reaction vessel, graphene oxide was reduced and at the same time, MnFe2O4 nanoparticles were formed on its surface. The obtained catalyst was characterized by N2 adsorption, FT-IR, XPS, HRTEM, XRD, FESEM and VSM physicochemical techniques. The rGO/MnFe2O4-50 % exhibits high photocatalytic efficiency for reduction of nitroaromatic compounds given to corresponding amines at ambient temperature. In this study, the kinetic parameter (k) of the reduction reaction was investigated. The catalyst was especially excellent in conversion of 1, 4-dinitrobenzene (99 % in 30 min), 4-bromonitrobenzene (100 % in 60 min) and 4-chloronitrobenzene (100 % in 70 min). In addition to the photocatalytic behavior of rGO/MnFe(2)O(4)50 %, the recyclability of MnFe2O4 was exploited and the catalyst was used for a number of times in the nitrobenzene photocatalytic test without observing a significant decreasing in efficiency.