Magnetically separable ternary g-C3N4/Fe3O4/BiOI nanocomposites: Novel visible-light-driven photocatalysts based on graphitic carbon nitride

The present work demonstrates preparation of magnetically separable ternary g-C3N4/Fe3O4/BiOI nanocomposites as novel visible-light-driven photocatalysts. The resultant samples were characterized using XRD, EDX, SEM, TEM, UV-Vis DRS, FT-IR, PL, BET, and VSM techniques. The results revealed that weight percent of BiOI has considerable effect on photodegradation of rhodamine B under visible-light irradiation. Among the prepared samples, the g-g-C3N4/Fe3O4/BiOI (20%) nanocomposite has the best photocatalytic activity. The activity of this nanocomposite is about 10, 22, and 21-fold higher than that of the g-C3N4 sample in degradation of rhodamine B, methylene blue, and methyl orange under the visible-light irradiation. The excellent activity of the magnetic nanocomposite was attributed to more harvesting of the visible-light irradiation and efficiently separation of the electron-hole pairs. More importantly, the nanocomposite was magnetically separated after five successive cycles. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.