Magnetically separable Fe3O4/mZrO2/Ag nanocomposites: Fabrication and photocatalytic activity

In this study, a facile and efficient approach was proposed for fabricating magnetically separable core-shell structured nanocomposites consisting of a magnetic Fe 3 O 4 core, a mesoporous ZrO 2 (mZrO 2 ) interlayer and an outer Ag nanoparticles shell using a sol-gel process and a wet chemistry method at ambient condition, and the hydrothermal treatment . The resulting Fe 3 O 4 /mZrO 2 /Ag nanocomposites were analyzed by TEM and SEM images, XPS , EDX and XRD spectra. Their photocatalytic activity was examined for the degradation of methylene blue under UV light . The effect of initial concentration, catalyst dosage and pH value was investigated and the results were discussed. Fe 3 O 4 /mZrO 2 /Ag nanocomposites showed higher photocatalytic activity, compared with Fe 3 O 4 /mZrO 2 composites. The PL analysis revealed Fe 3 O 4 /mZrO 2 composites possessed the enhanced separation efficiency of electron-hole pairs in comparison with Fe 3 O 4 /mZrO 2 . Moreover, the Fe 3 O 4 /mZrO 2 /Ag nanocomposites can be easily separated and recycled with an external magnetic field, and so they present remarkable reusability.