With the goal to boost the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs in semiconductor and enhance the photocatalytic performance of the material, herein, novel magnetically recoverable ternary g-C3N4/ZnO/SrFe12O19 (CZSr) dual Z-scheme heterojunction systems with varying ratios of SrFe12O19 were fabricated via sonication calcination strategy. The crystal structure, surface morphology, chemical composition, and optical characteristics of prepared materials were observed using different analytical tools. Benefitting from the enhanced charge carriers' separation, wide visible light adsorptive property, and good charge transfer capacity, the optimized CZSr-11 revealed excellent photocatalytic performance towards degradation of two azo dyes, methylene blue (MB), and remazol brilliant yellow (RBY) displaying maximum % removal with 99% and 97% confiscation of MB and RBY, respectively, in just 20 min. Dual Z-scheme charge transfer abetted with photo-Fenton mechanism was observed to be responsive for the improvised degradation capability by ternary heterostructure. Radical trapping experiment results demonstrated the role of three reactive species HO•, •O2‒, and h+ towards confiscation of model pollutants. Moreover, the fabricated material possessed excellent recoverability and reusability, thus making it reliable for practical usage. Thus, this study presents a pioneering perception of utilizing visible light harnessing heterojunction systems for organic pollutants' removal from aqueous environment.
Keywords: Azo dyes; Dual Z-scheme heterojunction systems; Photo-Fenton mechanism; Wastewater treatment; g-C3N4/ZnO/SrFe12O19 (CZSr).
© 2025. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.