Facile preparation of core/shell Ag/Fe3O4@MIL-100(Fe) with Ag plasmon-enhanced photo-Fenton activity towards RhB degradation

MIL-100(Fe) has been demonstrated as a commonly used photocatalyst but is limited by the deficient charge separation efficiency and difficult recovery. In this work, by taking advantages of the strong plasmonic absorption and electron conductivity of Ag nanoparticles, as well as the fast magnetic response of the Fe 3 O 4 , core/shell Ag/Fe 3 O 4 @MIL-100(Fe) (AFM) was facilely prepared by a direct hydrothermal reaction between H 3 btc and Ag/Fe 3 O 4 (AF) for photo-Fenton degradation of RhB assisted by H 2 O 2 . Specifically, the Fe 3 O 4 in AF acted as both ion precursor and protector to inhibit Ag aggregation to obtain uniform and dispersed core/shell AFM. By adjusting the MIL-100(Fe) thickness and the Ag proportion, the optimum AFM exhibits superior photo-Fenton activity to decompose 88.5% RhB within 30 min under visible-light irradiation and H 2 O 2 addition, which is much higher than that of AFM in the presence of either light (58.5%) or H 2 O 2 (46.6%) due to the synergistic effects of visible-light absorption by MIL-100(Fe) and ·OH generation from H 2 O 2 . Moreover, the catalyst can be collected conveniently for its strong magnetic responsibility. This work may be beneficial to the development of effective photo-Fenton catalysts. Graphical abstract A novel magnetically recyclable Ag/Fe 3 O 4 @MIL-100(Fe) with special core/shell structure was facilely synthesized by hydrothermal method with superior photo-Fenton activity for dye degradation.