Recoverable magnetic CoFe2O4/BiOI nanofibers for efficient visible light photocatalysis

A facile methodology for fabricating novel magnetic fibrous visible light photocatalysts CoFe 2 O 4 /BiOI (CFO/BiOI) is presented. The fabrication procedure involves production of electrospun CoFe 2 O 4 nanofibers and subsequent controllable decoration of BiOI nanoplates by both the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) and solvothermal methods on CoFe 2 O 4 nanofiber surface. The BiOI nanoplates on the fiber surface obtained by two methods are highly crystallized with lamellae morphology. The resulting CFO/BiOI fibers exhibit strongly magnetic response to external magnetic field and can be quickly collected. All the CFO/BiOI fiber samples exhibit excellent visible light photocatalytic performance towards degrading RhB regardless of the preparation methods, in which h + and O 2− play the major roles examined by the trapping experiment. Above 80% RhB dyes can be degraded within 2 h after 3 cycles under visible light irradiation, suggesting the good reusability of the photocatalysts. This work demonstrates that the CFO/BiOI is characteristic with high visible light photocatalysis performance and magnetic response, hence is promising for photocatalysis.