Synthesis of novel MnFe2O4/MIL-53 (Fe)/Y zeolite nanocomposite catalyst and its performance for the sonocatalytic degradation of organic dye contaminants

In this research, the novel MnFe2O4/MIL-53(Fe)/Y zeolite as a magnetically separable nanocomposite catalyst was successfully synthesized by the ultrasonic-assisted hydrothermal route and identified using FE-SEM, EDAX, XRD, FTIR, VSM, and AFM analyses. Subsequently, the sonocatalytic performance of the MnFe2O4/MIL-53(Fe)/Y nanocomposite was carried out to effective degrade the organic dye contaminants, involving methylene blue (MB), methyl orange (MO) and rhodamine B (RhB) from aqueous solution under ultrasound (US)/H2O2 system. Multiple analytical factors, such as irradiation time, catalyst amount, initial dye concentration, H2O2 concentration, process type, and organic dye type were studied to attain the maximum sonocatalytic efficiency. Based on the obtained outcomes, the degradation efficiency reached to be 100%, 99.2% and 90.8% for MB, RhB and MO, respectively. Plus, the trapping experiments demonstrated that ·OH radicals are the main reactive oxidative species in the degradation of these organic dyes. In conclusion, the sonocatalytic degradation synergizing the US/H2O2 in the presence of MnFe2O4/MIL-53 (Fe)/Y nanocomposite reveals a great potential to evaluate the effective treatment of toxic organic dyes from effluent.