Magnetically recoverable highly efficient visible-light-active g-C3N4/Fe3O4/Ag2WO4/AgBr nanocomposites for photocatalytic degradations of environmental pollutants

Herein, magnetically recoverable g-C₃N₄/Fe₃O₄/Ag₂WO₄/AgBr (gCN/M/AgW/AgBr) nanocomposites, as greatly efficient visible-light-active photocatalysts, were fabricated by successive decoration of Fe₃O₄, Ag₂WO₄, and AgBr over g-C₃N₄ (gCN) and they were characterized by XRD, EDX, SEM, TEM, HRTEM, UV–vis DRS, FT-IR, PL, TG, and VSM analysis. Visible-light-induced photocatalytic performances were studied by degradations of RhB, MB, MO, and fuchsine pollutants. It was confirmed that the nanocomposites are effective in the reduction of e^?/h⁺ recombination through the matched interactions between energy bands of gCN, Fe₃O₄, Ag₂WO₄, and AgBr semiconductors. The highest photocatalytic degradation efficiency was observed for the gCN/M/AgW/AgBr (30%) nanocomposite when it was refluxed for 30?min. Activity of this nanocomposite is almost 21, 41, 94, and 10-folds greater than those of the gCN toward the degradations of RhB, MB, MO, and fuchsine pollutants, respectively. Additionally, a mechanism for the superior photocatalytic performances was proposed using reactive species scavenging experiments and characterization results.