Abstract
In the current research, we successfully prepared TiO2/Ni-Cu-Zn ferrite composite powder for magnetic photocatalyst. The core Ni-Cu-Zn ferrite powder was synthesized by using the steel pickling liquor and the waste solution of electroplating as the starting materials. The shell TiO2 nanocrystal was prepared by sol-gel hydrolysis precipitation of titanium isopropoxide (Ti(OC3H7)4) on the Ni-Cu-Zn ferrite powder followed by heat treatment. From transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image, the thickness of the titania shell was found to be approximately 5 nm.The core of Ni-Cu-Zn ferrite is spherical or elliptical shape and the particle size of the core is in the range of 70~110nm. The magnetic Ni-Cu-Zn ferrite nanopowder is uniformly encapsulated in a titania layer forming core-shell structure of TiO2/Ni-Cu-Zn ferrite powder. The degradation efficiency for methylene blue (MB) increases with magnetic photocatalyst (TiO2/Ni-Cu-Zn ferrite powder) content. When the magnetic photocatalyst content is 0.40g in 150mL of MB, the photocatalytic activity reached the largest value. Further increasing the content of magnetic photocatalyst, the degradation efficiency slightly decreased. This is due to the fact that the UV illumination is covered by catalysts, which suspended in the methylene blue solution and resulting in the inhibition in the photocatlyic reaction. The photocatalytic degradation result for the relationship between MB concentration and illumination, it revealed a pseudo first-order kinetic model of the degradation with the limiting rate constant of 1.717mg/L‧min and equilibrium adsorption constant 0.0627L/mg. Furthermore, the Langmuir-Hinshewood model can be employed to describe the degradation reaction, which suggests that the rate-determining step is surface reaction rather than adsorption is in photocatalytic degradation.
Published Version
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