Design and synthesis of novel Pt/Fe3O4@SiO2@WO3 magnetic core/shell microspheres for solar light driven photocatalytic production of hypochlorous acid

Abstract

Visible light catalysis technology is a potential environment-friendly marine antifouling technology. However, most photocatalytic antifouling agents are based on a free radical mechanism and are difficult to recycle. To address this problem, we reported the design and assembly of Pt/Fe3O4@SiO2@WO3 with a novel core@double shell structure. Pt/WO3 is the outermost shell layer used for photocatalytic reactions. Benefiting from the existence of the most central Fe3O4 core, the magnetic recovery can be easily achieved. As an intermediate layer, SiO2 can effectively block the electron transfer between WO3 and Fe3O4, avoiding loss of photocatalytic activity. Pt/Fe3O4@SiO2@WO3 can produce 6.31 μM HClO in a simulated seawater medium under visible light irradiation for 2 h and achieves efficient recovery under an applied magnetic field. This strategy shows us a new idea for the construction of photocatalytic antifouling materials and has an important guiding role for the marine antifouling application of photocatalytic technology.