Synthesis, Characterization, Photocatalytic and Self Cleaning Behaviour of Sepiolite-Supported CdFe2O4 Nanocomposite

This study employed the hydrothermal co-precipitation approach to synthesize several natural clay-sepiolite supported cadmium ferrite (CdFe2O4) photocatalysts with different weight percentages of sepiolite (3, 5, 9 wt.%). Several techniques were used to characterize the sepiolite/CdFe2O4 composite like photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and BET surface area analysis. The results showed that improved CdFe2O4 with 5 wt.% sepiolite had superior photocatalytic activity than undoped CdFe2O4 in eliminating azo dye rhodamine-B when exposed to solar light. The sandwich-like microstructure is shown loosely clustering together in FE-SEM images, with an average particle size of about 50 nm. Moreover, the BET results showed that sepiolite/CdFe2O4 has a larger surface area than undoped CdFe2O4. CdFe2O4, supported by sepiolite, remarkably indicated good photocatalytic activity for up to four applications in a row. Sepiolite/CdFe2O4 is characterized by a high degree of hydrophobicity, as shown by a contact angle of 108.3º and this hydrophobic property is useful for making materials that clean themselves.