Efficient degradation of rhodamine B with magnetically separable Ag3PO4@MgFe2O4 composites under visible irradiation

Novel magnetically separable micro-nanostructure Ag3PO4@MgFe2O4 composites were successfully prepared via an ion-exchange deposition process. With Rhodmine B (RhB) as the model organic pollutant, Ag3PO4@MgFe2O4 system exhibited much superior degradation performance and stability, which was comparative to Ag3PO4 and MgFe2O4 system. The characterization results showed that Ag3PO4@MgFe2O4(10%) possessed high dispersion, large pore size (similar to 24 nm), larger transient photocurrent and longer fluorescence lifetime (similar to 10.83 ns). Furthermore, the effect of various parameters, such as temperature, initial pH, RhB concentration and catalyst loading on the RhB degradation were discussed in detail. Characterization results further indicate the MgFe2O4 over Ag3PO4 surface can inhibit Ag3PO4 from photocorrosion. Comparing the activity results dependence with the characterization results, it was indicated that the dependence of the photocatalytic activity on the efficient separation of photogenerated h(+)-e(-) pairs. This result indicates that the Ag3PO4@MgFe2O4(10%) catalyst can be a promising candidate for organic dyes degradation in waste water. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.