Shining light on environmental remediation: a type-II heterojunction MnFeO/rGO nanocomposites for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes and bisphenol A.

In this study, the pressing issue of persistent organic pollutants in wastewater was addressed by designing and fabricating a magnetically separable MnFeO/rGO heterostructure catalyst for efficient mineralization of bisphenol A (BPA) and dyes such as alizarin red S (anionic) and malachite green (cationic), which are known for their resistance to biodegradation and carcinogenic properties. Comprehensive structural and surface analyses using XRD, XPS, SEM, and TEM/HRTEM coupled with magnetic and optical property measurements revealed the formation of the MnFeO/rGO heterostructures. Among all, the MnFeO/rGO-10 catalyst with 10% wt% of rGO exhibited 100% efficiency in the mineralization of BPA and both dyes under visible light illumination within 60 min.