Soft-templated synthesis of Mn3O4 microdandelions for the degradation of alizarin red under visible light irradiation

Abstract

A facile wet chemical approach has been developed for the soft-templated synthesis of self-assembled Mn₃O₄ microdandelions through an effective dye/surfactant (viz., fluorescein isothiocyanate–dextran 2000S/cetyltrimethylammonium bromide) interaction. Addition of FITC D-2000S to an aqueous solution of CTAB results in the formation of aggregates that act as soft templates for the formation of Mn₃O₄ microdandelions upon addition of a weak base, diethanolamine to manganese acetate as the precursor under mild refluxing conditions. The morphology of these hybrid materials has been characterised by UV-visible, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique, selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The surface area of the microdandelions has been determined by Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis. The Mn₃O₄ microdandelions, bearing high surface area, exhibit potential photocatalytic activity towards the degradation of dye, viz., alizarin red under visible light irradiation under ambient conditions.