Abstract

Chemical warfare agent simulants present significant risks for humans, animals, and the environment. In this work, GO-Fe3O4/Bi2MoO6 nanocomposite was synthesized and fully characterized by FE-SEM, FT-IR, BET, XRD, VSM, and UV-Vis spectroscopy and used as a potential photocatalyst for degradation of methyl parathion as a chemical warfare agent simulant. The effect of pertinent factors (pH, the amount of catalyst, and organophosphate concentration) in the synthesis process was studied using a central composite design by response surface methodology. The band gap of the synthesized GO-Fe3O4/Bi2MoO6 nanocomposite was 2.5 eV, appropriate for visible light photocatalytic activity. According to the obtained results, after 120 min, GO-Fe3O4/Bi2MoO6 photocatalyst showed more than 95 degradation efficiency for methyl parathion as a chemical warfare agent simulant. The magnetic characteristic of the synthesized photocatalyst helped its recovery from the solution after the reaction. According to the obtained data, GO-Fe3O4/Bi2MoO6 nanocomposite could degrade methyl parathion (efficiency more than 90) even after five consecutive runs. The GO-Fe3O4/Bi2MoO6 nanocomposite shows promising performance for catalytic degradation of methyl parathion with the possibility to expand its application for other toxic chemicals removal. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.