Fabrication of easily recyclable photocatalyst with excellent photocatalytic activity for degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater is highly desirable for practical application. In this study, a novel ternary magnetic photocatalyst BiVO 4 /Fe 3 O 4 /reduced graphene oxide (BiVO 4 /Fe 3 O 4 /rGO) was synthesized via a facile hydrothermal strategy. The BiVO 4 /Fe 3 O 4 with 0.5 wt% of rGO (BiVO 4 /Fe 3 O 4 /0.5% rGO) exhibited superior activity, degrading greater than 99% Rhodamine B (RhB) after 120 min solar light radiation. The surface morphology and chemical composition of BiVO 4 /Fe 3 O 4 /rGO were studied by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. The free radicals scavenging experiments demonstrated that hole (h + ) and superoxide radical (O 2 •− ) were the dominant species for RhB degradation over BiVO 4 /Fe 3 O 4 /rGO under solar light. The reusability of this composite catalyst was also investigated after five successive runs under an external magnetic field. The BiVO 4 /Fe 3 O 4 /rGO composite was easily separated, and the recycled catalyst retained high photocatalytic activity. This study demonstrates that catalyst BiVO 4 /Fe 3 O 4 /rGO possessed high dye removal efficiency in water treatment with excellent recyclability from water after use. The current study provides a possibility for more practical and sustainable photocatalytic process.
In recent years, semiconductor materials have shown excellent potential in the field of photocatalytic degradation of antibiotics. To prepare a photocatalyst with excellent performance, an Fe 3 O 4 /rGO/Co-doped ZnO/g-C 3 N 4 tetrameric hybrid photocatalyst was successfully prepared for the first time by means of chemical precipitation using graphene oxide as the precursor. The developed quaternary photocatalyst was used for the degradation of oxytetracycline hydrochloride (OTC), and its photocatalytic activity was investigated. The structure and morphology of the composites were characterized by XRD , SEM, HR-TEM, ESR, N 2 adsorption, PL spectroscopy and UV-Vis DRS . The effects of different parameters on the degradation process were studied by the response surface method and artificial intelligence. The results showed that Fe 3 O 4 /rGO/Co-doped ZnO/g-C 3 N 4 was successfully synthesized. Under optimal conditions, the degradation rate of OTC was approximately 82% (the Fe 3 O 4 /rGO/Co-doped ZnO/g-C 3 N 4 dose was 0.16 g, the pH was 7.0, the initial concentration of OTC was 30 mg/L, and the visible light irradiation time was 70 min). pH is the most influential variable for OTC removal. At the same time, the degradation rate of OTC remained above 50% after 5 times of recycling, indicating that Fe 3 O 4 /rGO/Co-doped ZnO/g-C 3 N 4 photocatalyst had good stability and recoverability. In addition, the results of ESR and radical trapping experiments showed that·O 2 - and·OH were the main active species in the OTC removal process.