A magnetically recoverable CaTiO3/reduced graphene oxide/NiFe2O4 nanocomposite for the dye degradation under simulated sunlight irradiation

In this work, ternary CaTiO3/reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/NiFe2O4 nanocomposite was successfully prepared using polyacrylamide gel route followed by hydrothermal method. It is observed that NiFe2O4 and CaTiO3 nanoparticles are assembled on the surface of rGO. Furthermore, the formation of chemical bonding between the nanoparticles and rGO is confirmed. The photocatalytic activities of the samples were evaluated through the degradation of methylene blue and rhodamine B under the simulated sunlight irradiation. The results indicate that the ternary nanocomposite exhibits remarkable enhanced photocatalytic activity compared with bare CaTiO3 and NiFe2O4. In this nanocomposite, the photogenerated electrons of CaTiO3 and NiFe2O4 can be captured by rGO, leading to an increased separation and availability of electrons and holes for the photocatalytic reaction. Moreover, this nanocomposite exhibits obvious ferromagnetism and can be readily recovered by external magnetic field. The recycling photocatalytic experiment demonstrates that the nanocomposite possesses good photocatalytic reusability. (C) 2019 The Ceramic Society of Japan. All rights reserved.