A magnetically separable P25/CoFe2O4/graphene catalyst with enhanced adsorption capacity and visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity

Abstract

A straightforward strategy is designed for the fabrication of a magnetically separable P25/CoFe₂O₄/graphene photocatalyst with differing P25 contents via a facile one step hydrothermal approach. TEM observations show that graphene sheets are exfoliated and decorated with well-dispersed TiO₂ and CoFe₂O₄ nanoparticles. The adsorption capacity and visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity are evaluated in terms of the efficiencies of adsorption and photodegradation of various dyes, including methylene blue (MB), methyl orange (MO) and neutral dark yellow (DY). The evaluation results demonstrate that the P25/CoFe₂O₄/graphene photocatalyst exhibits the best performance among P25/CoFe₂O₄/graphene (PCG), CoFe₂O₄/graphene (CG), P25/CoFe₂O₄ (PC) and P25/graphene (PG) photocatalysts, not only in the adsorption progress, but also in the photocatalytic degradation. The significant enhancement after combination can be attributed to the synergistic effect among individual components. Furthermore, CoFe₂O₄ nanoparticles themselves have excellent magnetic properties, which are largely maintained in the composite, and therefore, it is no longer necessary to introduce additional magnetic supports for magnetic separation in a suspension system.