Evaluation of GO nanosheets decorated by CuFe2O4 and CdS nanoparticles as photocatalyst for the degradation of dinoseb and imidacloprid pesticides

Abstract Pesticides are generally utilized one after another for crop conservation, and this pesticide utilization oftentimes resulting in combined pollution of their residues in the environment. An experimental study was performed on the degradation of dinoseb and imidacloprid. In this research, GO/CuFe2O4–CdS nanocomposite was synthesized as a high-efficiency photocatalyst for the process of pesticides pollutants from water. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray (FESEM-EDX), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Vibrating-sample Magnetometer (VSM), and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses are applied to study the properties of this nanocomposite. Dinoseb and imidacloprid as pesticide materials have been utilized as water contaminants and their degradation performance using the synthesized photocatalyst is considered. The effect of initial pH, photocatalyst amount, initial pesticide concentration and degradation time are investigated in this research. The optimum values for both pesticides were as follows: pollutant concentration was 10 ppm, the nanocatalyst amount was 100 mg, irradiation time was 100 min and the pH of pesticide solution equaled to 8. The results showed that the GO/CuFe2O4–CdS nanocomposite is the efficient nanocatalyst for degradation of these pesticides.