A magnetic separable 3D hierarchical BiOI/rGO/Fe3O4 catalyst for degradation of Rhodamine B under visible light: Kinetic studies and mechanism of degradation

A magnetically separable BiOI/rGO/Fe3O4 photocatalyst was prepared at room temperature using a one-step chemical co-precipitation method. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, FT-Raman spectroscopy, etc. were used to characterize the photocatalyst. The photocatalytic activity of the magnetically separable photocatalyst was tested for its ability to degrade Rhodamine B (RhB). On the rGO sheet, a flower-like 3D hierarchical BiOI microsphere was loaded with distributed Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Within 180 min, 98.1% of 20 mg/L RhB had been degraded. In MATLAB 2014, the degradation kinetics were investigated using a non linear method. According to free radical trapping analysis the photocatalytic activity of RhB was conquered by superoxide and hydroxyl radicals rather than the direct hole. LC/MS/MS analysis was used to identify the intermediates formed during the degradation of RhB. These findings showed that magnetic separable BiOI/rGO/Fe3O4 prepared by a simple co-precipitation method had the potential to be used on a large scale in the treatment of RhB in wastewater.