Nanostructured Fe₃O4@Fe₂O₃/Carbon Dots Heterojunction for Efficient Photocatalyst Under Visible Light.

A facile method for the synthesis of porous magnetic nanoparticles (Fe₃O4@Fe₂O₃) embedded with carbon dots (CDs) are demonstrated for photocatalysis study. Here, a simple, low-cost and green method is developed to synthesize CDs from natural source. The synthesized carbon dots are highly water soluble and monodisperse with particle size 2–5 nm. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, BET surface area were employed to investigate the crystal structure, morphology, surface groups, optical properties, surface area of the synthesized nanocomposites. The photocatalytic performance of the nanocomposites was analyzed for the degradation of methylene blue under visible light and exhibited higher photocatalytic activity compared to Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles. Here the crucial role of CDs has been illustrated for the enhancement of photocatalytic activity.