Synthesis of magnetically recyclable porous CoFe2O4/Rh composites with large BET surface area for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutant

The organic pollutants in water have been a great environment challenges to human beings, and photocatalytic degradation is an effective method to solve this problem. In this paper, the Rh-loaded cobalt ferrite CoFe₂O₄ (CFO) nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized by in situ photodeposition of Rh nanoparticles onto the porous CFO particles as the photocatalysts. After incorporating Rh nanoparticles, the CFO/Rh composite has a higher specific surface area and is more efficient in charge separation than the bare CFO. The photocatalytic efficiency of decomposing Malachite Green (MG) is improved from 70% over the bare CFO to 97% over the optimized CFO/Rh in 60 min. The CFO/Rh sample also demonstrates its durability for the degradation of MG in 5 photocatalytic reaction cycles. Additionally, hydroxyl radicals (?OH) and superoxide radicals (?O₂^?) are proved to be the crucial reactive species during the photocatalytic degradation of MG with CFO/Rh, evidenced by the active species capture experiments. This work provides a useful approach to enhance the photocatalytic activity of semiconductors for degrading organic dyes.