Magnetically Separable Fe(3)O(4)/AgBr Hybrid Materials: Highly Efficient Photocatalytic Activity and Good Stability

Magnetically separable Fe(3)O(4)/AgBr hybrid materials with highly efficient photocatalytic activity were prepared by the precipitation method. All of them exhibited much higher photocatalytic activity than the pure AgBr in photodegradation of methyl orange (MO) under visible light irradiation. When the loading amount of Fe(3)O(4) was 0.5 %, the hybrid materials displayed the highest photocatalytic activity, and the degradation yield of MO reached 85 % within 12 min. Silver halide often suffers serious photo-corrosion, while the stability of the Fe(3)O(4)/AgBr hybrid materials improved apparently than the pure AgBr. Furthermore, depositing Fe(3)O(4) onto the surface of AgBr could facilitate the electron transfer and thereby leading to the elevated photocatalytic activity. The morphology, phase structure, and optical properties of the composites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectra (UV–vis DRS), and photoluminescence (PL) techniques.