A facile approach for the synthesis of spinel zinc ferrite/cellulose as an effective photocatalyst for the degradation of methylene blue in aqueous solution

The spinel zinc ferrite (ZnFe 2 O 4 ) /cellulose composite has been successfully fabricated as a photocatalyst and assessed for its photocatalytic activity toward the degradation of methylene blue (MB) in an aqueous solution. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and zeta potential were used to evaluate the magnetic photocatalyst composite and investigate its degradation mechanism. Furthermore, the photocatalytic behavior of the composite was studied under various conditions. The ZnFe 2 O 4 / cellulose composite effectively degraded (100%) MB after 180 min at a pH of 6.5. The regeneration of the loaded composite was studied using the alcohol/water solution and reused upon a certain variation in the efficiency after the fourth cycle. The photocatalytic process was found to be consistent with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Graphical abstract