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Synthesis and Properties of Magnetic-Semiconductor Fe3O4/TiO2 Heterostructure Nanocomposites for Applications in Wastewater Treatment
Journal of Magnetics, Volume 25, Number 1, 31 Mar 2020, Pages 1-7
Abstract
In this research, a simple method has been presented to synthesize the magnetic - semiconductor Fe3O4/TiO2
heterostructure nanocomposites via three steps: firstly, synthesis of Fe3O4 nanoparticles by co-precipitation
method; thereafter, formation of Fe3O4/TiO2composites by sol-gel method; finally, annealing to form Fe3O4/
TiO2 anatase (denoted as Fe3O4/TiO2-A) andFe3O4/TiO2 rutile (denoted as Fe3O4/TiO2-R) heterostructure
nanocomposites, respectively. The results of X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and energydispersive
X-ray spectroscopy show that the Fe3O4/TiO2-A andFe3O4/TiO2-R heterostructure nanocomposite
samples contain both magnetite (Fe3O4) and semiconductor TiO2 (anatase or rutile phase, respectively). The asprepared
nanocomposite samples exhibit superparamagnetic properties at room temperature with high saturation
magnetization (M
s) above 19.5 emu/g at the applied magnetic field of 11 kOe. Moreover, the Fe3O4/TiO2-A
andFe3O4/TiO2-R heterostructure nanocomposites with a low band gap energy of 2.89 eV and 2.81 eV, respectively,
are promising to enhance the performance of photocatalytic activities in the visible light region for application
in wastewater treatment.
heterostructure nanocomposites via three steps: firstly, synthesis of Fe3O4 nanoparticles by co-precipitation
method; thereafter, formation of Fe3O4/TiO2composites by sol-gel method; finally, annealing to form Fe3O4/
TiO2 anatase (denoted as Fe3O4/TiO2-A) andFe3O4/TiO2 rutile (denoted as Fe3O4/TiO2-R) heterostructure
nanocomposites, respectively. The results of X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and energydispersive
X-ray spectroscopy show that the Fe3O4/TiO2-A andFe3O4/TiO2-R heterostructure nanocomposite
samples contain both magnetite (Fe3O4) and semiconductor TiO2 (anatase or rutile phase, respectively). The asprepared
nanocomposite samples exhibit superparamagnetic properties at room temperature with high saturation
magnetization (M
s) above 19.5 emu/g at the applied magnetic field of 11 kOe. Moreover, the Fe3O4/TiO2-A
andFe3O4/TiO2-R heterostructure nanocomposites with a low band gap energy of 2.89 eV and 2.81 eV, respectively,
are promising to enhance the performance of photocatalytic activities in the visible light region for application
in wastewater treatment.
Keywords: Fe3O4/TiO2; heterostructure; nanocomposite; photocatalyst; wastewater treatment
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4283/JMAG.2020.25.1.001
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