Design and preparation of easily recycled Ag2WO4@ZnO@Fe3O4 ternary nanocomposites and their highly efficient degradation of antibiotics

The Ag2WO4@ZnO@Fe3O4 ternary nanocomposites with high photodegradation activity were synthesized. Compared with Ag2WO4 and ZnO crystals, the ternary nanocomposites could improve the rate of degrading antibiotics to 152.00 and 143.00 %, respectively. Noticeably, the ternary nanocomposites completely degraded the TH within 1.75 h under sunlight irradiation, which paved a new way for its practical application. The matching of energy-band structure between Ag2WO4 and ZnO crystals induced an efficient photogenerated electron transfer from the conduction band of ZnO to the conduction band of Ag2WO4, leading to valid separation and transfer of photogenerated charge carrier, and the subsequent promotion of photocatalytic activity. Furthermore, the introduction of Fe3O4 particle not only realized the recycling of catalyst but also enhanced the utilization rate of visible light of Ag2WO4@ZnO@Fe3O4 ternary nanocomposites.