One-pot synthesis of magnetically separable Bi/Fe oxide-based composites for effective photocatalytic removal of BPA and RO16 dye under 35W Xe-lamp

One-pot synthesis of magnetic Bi/Fe oxide composites photocatalyst was accomplished via the sol–gel process followed by calcination at various temperatures (350–550 °C). The as-prepared nanoparticles were characterized by a variety of techniques. The result of magnetic measurement indicates the magnetic properties of photocatalysts. The observed strong absorption in the visible region will enable these composites to be potentially used as promising visible-driven photocatalyst. The photocatalytic efficiency of these composites was evaluated by monitoring the photodegradation of bisphenol A (BPA) and reactive orange 16 (RO16) dye under visible light illumination. The results revealed that Bi/Fe-450 is the best photocatalyst in this work from its ability to degrade BPA (15 ppm) up to 100% within 1 h (kapp = 0.0951 min−1) and RO16 (5 ppm) up to 98% within 3 h (kapp = 0.0184 min−1), respectively. The main reactive species responsible for the photocatalytic degradation of both BPA and RO16 were identified to be the hole (h+) species. In addition, the magnetic property of the as-prepared Bi/Fe oxide-based composite provides the ease of separation of the photocatalyst from the reaction mixture.