Preparation of Fe3O4/BiPO4 magnetic nanocomposite and its photocatalytic performance

Abstract Fe 3 O 4 /BiPO 4 nanocomposite was prepared by the reverse co-precipitation and glycerin-assisted hydrothermal method. The material was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–Vis DRS), as well as the analysis of morphological structure and chemical composition. This work investigated the photocatalytic performance of Fe 3 O 4 /BiPO 4 particles with Rhodamine B (RhB) as a model pollutant. The degradation rate of RhB (5 mg/L, 250 mL) reached 92% with 0.25 g/L photocatalyst after 6 h treatment. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that superoxide radical (·O 2 − ), photo-generated hole (h + ) and hydroxyl radicals (·OH) played part in photocatalytic reaction, while the contribution of ·O 2 − was domain. Fe 3 O 4 /BiPO 4 photocatalyst still had magnetic properties and degradation rate was still about 86% after five successive runs, which was much suitable for the reuse.