A C-Doped TiO2/Fe3O4 Nanocomposite for Photocatalytic Dye Degradation under Natural Sunlight Irradiation

摘要

Magnetically recyclable C-doped TiO_(2)/Fe_(3)O_(4) (C-TiO_(2)/Fe_(3)O_(4)) nanocomposite was successfully synthesized via a sol–gel method. The synthesized samples were characterized using SEM, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), FTIR, and UV-VIS diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) techniques. The results clearly showed that a C-TiO_(2)/Fe_(3)O_(4) nanocomposite was produced. The photocatalytic activities of the prepared pristine (TiO_(2)), C-doped TiO_(2) (C-TiO_(2)) and C-TiO_(2)/Fe_(3)O_(4) were evaluated by the photodegradation of methyl orange (MO) under natural sunlight. The effect of catalyst loading and MO concentration were studied and optimized. The C-TiO_(2)/Fe_(3)O_(4) nanocomposite exhibited an excellent photocatalytic activity (99.68%) that was higher than the TiO_(2) (55.41%) and C-TiO_(2) (70%) photocatalysts within 150 min. The magnetic nanocomposite could be easily recovered from the treated solution by applying external magnetic field. The C-TiO_(2)/Fe_(3)O_(4) composite showed excellent photocatalytic performance for four consecutive photocatalytic reactions. Thus, this work could provide a simple method for the mass production of highly photoactive and stable C-TiO_(2)/Fe_(3)O_(4) photocatalyst for environmental remediation.