Magnetic composite ZnFe2O4/SrFe12O19: Preparation, characterization, and photocatalytic activity under visible light

One-step chemical coprecipitation with high-temperature sintering method was employed for preparing magnetic composite ZnFe2O4/SrFe12O19 including a hard-magnetic phase (SrFe12O19) and a soft-magnetic phase (ZnFe2O4). The magnetic composite was characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM, BET, XPS, VSM, and UV-vis. The testing results showed that the saturation magnetization (M-s), remanent magnetization (M-r), and coercivity (H-c) were 34.95 emu/g, 18.31 emu/g, and 2254.54 G, respectively, indicating that the composite possessed excellent magnetic properties and a greater capacity for anti-demagnetize. The properties of the composite were favourable to its separation, recycling, and reuse after reaction. The photocatalytic performance of the composite was studied by the degradation reaction of methylene blue under visible light irradiation. The experimental results revealed that the degradation rate was still more than 70% when the composite was reused for four times. In addition, this research was expected to provide a promising method to prepare various composite materials with multi-functional components. Crown Copyright (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.