Investigation of Structural, Magnetic, Optical, and Photocatalytic Properties of Fe/CoFe2O4 Composite

A Fe/CoFe2O4 nanocomposite was synthesized in one step by a hydrothermal method by processing the created iron and cobalt hydroxocomplexes. For precise characterization of the structure and morphology, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis-DRS) were used. It was found that the obtained samples have a pronounced spinel crystalline structure, with the presence of metallic iron. The crystal size was determined by various methods and was 93–104 nm. The saturation magnetization, determined from the hysteresis loop, was 189.24 Emu/g, and the force coefficient was 602 Oe. UV-vis-DRS studies showed a band gap of 2.1 eV. The photocatalytic degradation of ibuprofen, streptocide, furacilin, methylene blue, and tetracycline was investigated under the influence of UV radiation in the presence of a photocatalyst. It was confirmed that the rate of degradation of pollutants obeys pseudo-first-order kinetics. Analysis of the constant rate of reactions showed that in order of decreasing stability, pharmaceutical drugs can be dissolved as follows: ibuprofen → streptocide → furatsilin → methylene blue → tetracycline. It was found that the ratio of photocatalyst and hydrogen peroxide concentrations is important for the destruction of more stable pollutants. The effect of hydrogen peroxide and catalyst concentrations is extremely strong. For unstable compounds, the most influential factor is the duration of treatment.