Reusable hybride CoFe_2O_4-ZnO hollow nanosphere photocatalysts

摘要

Magnetically separable and reusable core-shell CoFe_2O_4-ZnO photocatalyst nanospheres were prepared via hydrothermal synthesis technique using glucose derived carbon nanospheres as template. The morphology and phase of core-shell hybrid structure of CoFe_2O_4-ZnO was assessed via TEM, and XRD. The UV-vis photocatalytic activity of the composite was assessed via measuring the degradation rate of modeled pollutant methylene blue in water. The magnetic composite showed high UV photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methylene blue. The photocatalytic activity was found to be ZnO shell thickness dependent. Thicker ZnO shells lead to higher rate of photocatalytic activity. Hybrid nanospheres recovered using external magnetic field demonstrated good repeatability of photocatalytic activity. These results promise the reusability of hybrid nanospheres for photocatalytic activity.