Synthesis of nano-fibrillated cellulose/magnetite/titanium dioxide (NFC@Fe3O4@TNP) nanocomposites and their application in the photocatalytic hydrogen generation

Nano-fibrillated cellulose (NFC), an abundant renewable bio-macromolecule, has received much attention in the research community. The study detailed herein is related to the preparation of photocatalytic nanocomposites consisting of nano-fibrillated cellulose/magnetite/titanium dioxide nanoparticles (NFC@Fe3O4@TNP). The aim of this study is to improve the photocatalytic efficiency of NFC-TNP composites and to improve their recyclability during the photocatalytic hydrogen generation. The NFC@Fe3O4@TNP nanocomposites were characterized by TEM, EDX, SAED, XRD, XPS, FTIR, Raman spectra and VSM techniques, The results showed that Fe3O4 NP and TNP were Well-distributed on the surface of NFC. The photocatalytic efficiency study showed that NFC@Fe3O4@TNP nanocomposites represented a higher photocatalytic hydrogen generation rate in comparison with that of NFC-TNP sample. In addition, the NFC@Fe3O4@TNP nanocomposites can be readily recovered from the system using a magnet due to their stable superparamagnetic properties, and they had only a marginal loss of TNP and photocatalytic efficiency after fifteen cycles. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.