A facile strategy for the preparation of a porous flower-like Fe3O4/Cu2O/Ag nanocomposite with unexpected and recyclable photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation

• The Fe3O4/Cu2O/Ag composite was first successfully synthesized via a facile method.
• The ternary composite shows unexpected photocatalytic activity.
• The (111) facet of Cu2O was found be higher activity facet.
• The photocatalyst can be easily recycled by a magnet.

In this work, a novel magnetic and ordered Fe3O4/Cu2O/Ag ternary composite was successfully synthesized via one-pot method in the presence of Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The glycol-ethanol mixed system was used as both solvent and reductant for the simultaneous formation of Cu2O and Ag. The porous and hollow flower-like Fe3O4/Cu2O/Ag composite was self-assembled by many nanosheets with an average thickness of 10 nm and exhibited unexpected photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) under visible light. The degradation rate of MO in aqueous solution (1×10−4 mol L−1) reached to 97.7% within 40 min. The (111) facet of Cu2O exhibited higher activity for the absorption of MO. Furthermore, ternary composite could be easily recycled by applying an external magnetic field without significant decrease of the catalytic activity even after running 5 times, which presented higher stability and efficiency than Fe3O4@Cu2O. This work would provide a new sight for the construction of visible light-responsive photocatalysts with high performance.

Photocatalytic Mechanism Scheme of the Fe3O4/Cu2O/Ag composite under visible light irradiation. Such a remarkable photocatalytic activity of composite is related to the surface plasmon resonance effect of Ag nanoparticles and the powerful absorption ability of the (111) facets of Cu2O to MO.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide