Sonochemical synthesis of Fe3O4/ZnO magnetic nanocomposites and their application in photo-catalytic degradation of various organic dyes

In this work, Fe3O4/ZnO nanocomposite was synthesized via a surfactant-free sonochemical method in aqueous solution. The effect of sonication time and power on the morphology and particle size of the magnetic seeds were investigated. The prepared product were characterized by X-ray diffraction pattern, scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Alternating gradient force magnetometer showed superparamagnetic behaviour of Fe3O4 nanoparticles as well as nanocomposites containing 10 % ZnO. The photocatalytic behaviour of Fe3O4–ZnO nanocomposites was evaluated using the degradation of eight organic dyes under ultraviolet light irradiation. The results show that Fe3O4–ZnO nanocomposites have applicable magnetic and photocatalytic performance.