Interface engineered Ag-r-GO-CuFe₂O₄-Fe₃O₄ heterojunction an efficient photocatalyst for water treatment and toxicity study in Trifolium plants

Herein, we report the Ag-r-GO-CuFe₂O₄-Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite (Ag-r-GO-CFO-FO NCs) for effective photocatalytic activity against organic pollutants. Herein the O-S scheme mechanism is achieved by the formation of Ohmic (O) and Schottky (S) junctions. The two interfacial charge carriers for accelerated phono formation and mass transfer and thus increase in the light-harvesting with electron traps for the gerenation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The photocatalytic activity of the constructed Ag-r-GO-CFO-FO NCs was tested against organic dyes (red RB, orange 2R and black B) and the degradation efficiency was calculated to be 99.8, 99.3 and 99.8% respectively. The radical quenching shows the formation of •OH and O₂•- which plays major role in the mineralization of organic pollutants. Total organic carbon (TOC) after the degradation of red RB, orange 2R and black B by Ag-r-GO-CFO-FO NCs was 2.1%, 1.6% and 1.9% respectively, which shows the complete mineralization of the pollutants. In addition, the real-time application of the photocatalytic efficiency of NCs was performed against the effluent collected from dying industrial (which is a combination of red RB, orange 2R and black B) and the degradation efficiency was 98.2%. Toxicity of the NCs was performed against maize plants, the results show that the NCs are non-toxicity towards plants and can be used for real-time application. The efforts provide evidence of the combination of two interfacial charge carriers (O-S scheme) to boost the catalytic activity of the catalyst for water treatment.