Mechanochemical synthesis of CoFe2O4/Bi2MoO6 mixed metal oxide and study of its photocatalytic behavior

The synthesis of CoFe2O4/Bi2MoO6 nanoparticles and its components is reported via a mechanochemical procedure followed by calcination treatment. The results revealed successful formation of the product with a nonuniform flake-like morphology and average particles size of 47 nm. The particulate morphologies with average sizes of 60 and 20 nm were also identified for Bi2MoO6 and CoFe2O4 nanoparticles. Photocatalytic properties of the products were studied on the degradation of Rhodamine Blue (RhB) as an organic dye contaminant from aqueous solution under visible light irradiation. The results indicated a good removal efficiency of 98 % by nanocomposite. It was found Bi2MoO6 plays a main role in photocatalytic performance while magnetic CoFe2O4 provides a simple and easy way for separation and recovery of the employed photocatalyst from aqueous.