One-pot hydrothermal synthesis and characterization of magnetic Mn–Fe–V oxide/modified zeolite nanocomposite with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic properties

Abstract

In this study, a novel type of magnetic hybrid nanomaterial (MnFe₂O₄/FeVO₄/modified zeolite by Cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) surfactant) was successfully synthesized via a one-pot hydrothermal method to meet this goal, demonstrating excellent performance in the degradation of benzothiophene (BT) and increasing photocatalytic properties. To optimize the structure of the nanocomposite and enhance its performance in oxidative desulfurization, several samples with different ratios of nanostructure to modified zeolite, including sample 1:1 (S1:1), sample 2:1 (S2:1), sample 4:1 (S4:1), and sample 8:1 (S8:1) were synthesized and characterized by XRD, EDS, FESEM, TEM, BET, DRS and VSM analyses. The synthesized nanocomposite exhibited superior photocatalytic activity and achieved high sulfur removal efficiency under visible light irradiation. In terms of pollutant degradation, the sulfur removal efficiency across various samples was evaluated. The results yielded the following percentages: MnFe₂O₄ (65 %), S1:1 (Fe_0.11V₂O_5.16/Mn₂V₂O₇/modified zeolite (1:1)) (85 %), S2:1 (MnFe₂O₄/Mn₂V₂O₇/modified zeolite (2:1)) (90 %), S4:1 (MnFe₂O₄/Fe_0.5V_3.5O₈/modified zeolite (4:1)) (98 %), and S8:1 (MnFe₂O₄/FeVO₄/modified zeolite (8:1)) (100 %). S8:1 (MnFe₂O₄/FeVO₄/modified zeolite (8:1)) was also found to remove 100 % of sulfur from diesel fuel. The synergistic interaction between MnFe₂O₄ and FeVO₄ significantly improved pollutant adsorption and photocatalytic degradation. Kinetic investigations were conducted to evaluate the degradation behavior of sulfur-containing compounds under visible-light photocatalysis using the synthesized nanocomposites. Three kinetic models including zero-order, first-order and second-order were applied to the experimental data. Among them, the first order model exhibited the highest correlation (R² = 0.9939) for S8:1, indicating a surface-controlled chemisorption mechanism.