Abstract
Magnetically-separable photocatalyst of magnetic biochar has been prepared from snake fruit peel and utilize for photooxidation of rhodamine B. The synthesis was performed by immobilizing iron oxide precursors via co-precipitation followed by carbonization under N 2 gas at 400 °C for h. The obtained magnetic biochar was characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and gas sorption analysis. The results from XRD analysis showed that magnetic biochar composed as the dispersed Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles with slightly γ- Fe 2 O 3 phase. TEM analysis concluded that the particle size is ranging at 5–20 nm. Photocatalytic activity studies of MBC were performed for rhodamine B photooxidation at various pHs and H 2 O 2 concentrations. Photooxidation of rhodamine B followed second-order kinetics at the optimum pH of 7 and H 2 O 2 concentration of 0.5% with the degradation efficiency of 99.9%. Insignificant change of degradation efficiency until fifth cycle indicated that magnetic biochar has stability and potential to be applied in larger scale.