Fabrication and photocatalytic property of magnetic NiFe2O4/Cu2O composites

Magnetically separable NiFe2O4/Cu2O composites were successfully synthesized by a two-step method. The samples were characterized by XRD, XPS, SEM and VSM as well as their PL spectra and UV–vis adsorption spectra. The results showed that the NiFe2O4/Cu2O composites were composed of cubic-structured Cu2O and spinel-structured NiFe2O4, were able to absorb a large amount of visible light, exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity under simulated solar light irradiation and could be easily separated by an external magnetic field. The NiFe2O4/Cu2O composites exhibited higher photocatalytic performance than that of a single semiconductor. It was found that the prominently enhanced photocatalytic performance of NiFe2O4/Cu2O composites was ascribed to the effective separation of photo-generated electron–hole pairs and the effective generation of the hydroxyl radical •OH.