Preparation of magnetic nanosphere/nanorod/nanosheet-like Fe3O4/Bi2S3/BiOBr with enhanced (001) and (110) facets to photodegrade diclofenac and ibuprofen under visible LED light irradiation

A novel magnetic nanosphere/nanorod/nanosheet-like photocatalyst Fe3O4/Bi2S3/BiOBr was fabricated via a facile one-pot solvothermal method firstly and exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance for diclofenac (DCF) and ibuprofen (IBU) removal, where the removal efficiencies of DCF and IBU were 93.81% and 96.78% after 40 min and 30 min visible LED light irradiation, respectively. The best preparation ratios with Bi2S3 mass were 4% and 1% for DCF and IBU removal respectively, which might be attributed to better crystallinities of (0 0 1) and (1 1 0) facets respectively. Besides, enhanced charge separation and better crystallinity with introduction of Fe3O4 and Bi2S3 promoted higher photocatalytic performance of Fe3O4/Bi2S3/BiOBr compared with pure BiOBr, Bi2S3 and Bi2S3/BiOBr. Influencing factors experiments (pH, common anions, DOM) results showed beneficial or detrimental effects to a certain extent. While removal efficiencies in matrices of Yellow River (DCF: 55.65%; IBU: 54.90%) and Wastewater treatment plant (DCF: 68.66%; IBU: 58.90%) exhibited lower than those in ultrapure water. Moreover, h+ and e-played the uppermost roles in the DCF and IBU photodegradation according to active species trapping experiment results. Furthermore, four and two main degradation pathways for DCF and IBU removal respectively through 3D EEMs and HRMS analyses were proposed. Lastly, easy separation from water and excellent reusability proved its better potential for emerging pollutants removal in environment remediation area.