Synthesize and Characterization of Mesoporous ZrFe2O4@SiO₂ Core-shell Nanocomposite Modified with APTES and TCPP

The mesoporous ZrFe2O4 nanocauliflowers were synthesized via the solvothermal method. The core-shell ZrFe2O4@SiO2 nanocomposite was successfully prepared by a simple wet route using tetraethylorthosilicate, then modified with (3-aminopropyl)triethoxisilan (APTES) as linker and tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin (TCPP) as agent for light harvesting, to fabricate ZrFe2O4@SiO2-NH-TCPP nanocomposite. The characterizations of samples were done by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), nitrogen adsorption and desorption isotherms (BET), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and fluorescence spectroscopy. The prepared samples were applied as photocatalyst to remove of methyl orange (MO) under visible LED light irradiation. The obtained results showed that the presence of SiO2 and TCPP decreased the size of particles and improve the photocatalytic activity of samples, too, led to increase of photodegradation of MO. The final fabricated nanocomposite (ZrFe2O4@SiO2-NH-TCPP) could degrade MO about 100% under only 10 W visible LED irradiation and be separated easily by an external magnetic field.