Novel magnetic Fe(3)O(4)/g-C(3)N(4)/MoO(3) nanocomposites with highly enhanced photocatalytic activities: Visible-light-driven degradation of tetracycline from aqueous environment

In the present work, a series of magnetically separable Fe(3)O(4)/g-C(3)N(4)/MoO(3) nanocomposite catalysts were prepared. The as-prepared catalysts were characterized by XRD, EDX, TEM, FT-IR, UV-Vis DRS, TGA, PL, BET and VSM. The photocatalytic activity of photocatalytic materials was evaluated by catalytic degradation of tetracycline solution under visible light irradiation. Furthermore, the influences of weight percent of MoO(3) and scavengers of the reactive species on the degradation activity were investigated. The results showed that the Fe(3)O(4)/g-C(3)N(4)/MoO(3) (30%) nanocomposites exhibited highest removal ability for TC, 94% TC was removed during the treatment. Photocatalytic activity of Fe(3)O(4)/g-C(3)N(4)/MoO(3) (30%) was about 6.9, 5, and 19.9-fold higher than those of the MoO(3), g-C(3)N(4), and Fe(3)O(4)/g-C(3)N(4) samples, respectively. The excellent photocatalytic performance was mainly attributed to the Z-scheme structure formed between MoO(3) and g-C(3)N(4), which enhanced the efficient separation of the electron-hole and sufficient utilization charge carriers for generating active radials. The highly improved activity was also partially beneficial from the increase in adsorption of the photocatalysts in visible range due to the combinaion of Fe(3)O(4). Superoxide ions (·O(2)(−)) was the primary reactive species for the photocatalytic degradation of TC, as degradation rate were decreased to 6% in solution containing benzoquinone (BQ). Data indicate that the novel Fe(3)O(4)/g-C(3)N(4)/MoO(3) was favorable for the degradation of high concentrations of tetracycline in water.