Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue on magnetically separable FePc/Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> nanocomposite under visible irradiation

Wang, Kun; Yu, Lixia; Yin, Sheng; Li, Henan; Li, Huaming

doi:10.1351/PAC-CON-08-11-23

Pure Appl. Chem., 2009, Vol. 81, No. 12, pp. 2327-2335

http://dx.doi.org/10.1351/PAC-CON-08-11-23

Published online 2009-11-18

Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue on magnetically separable FePc/Fe₃O₄ nanocomposite under visible irradiation

Kun Wang*, Lixia Yu, Sheng Yin, Henan Li and Huaming Li

College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang, 212013, China

Abstract: A novel magnetically separable photocatalyst iron phthalocyanine/Fe₃O₄ (FePc/Fe₃O₄) nanocomposite was easily prepared by an organic–inorganic complexation technique, and characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform-infrared (FTIR). This functional nanocomposite has been found to exhibit high catalytic activity in the presence of added hydrogen peroxide, for oxidative degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. Under these conditions, MB (10 mg/l) underwent about 78 % oxidation in 2 h, and the catalyst still retained high activity after five catalytic cycles. Intervening recovery was easily achieved by changing the external magnetic field.