Promotion of phenol photodegradation based on novel self-assembled magnetic bismuth oxyiodide core–shell microspheres

Abstract

A novel visible-light driven “plates-over-nanospheres” (PONs) photocatalyst with BiOI nanoplates grown on the surface of Fe₃O₄ nanospheres was prepared using a facile method. By utilizing the self-assembly of the BiOI nanoplates, this environmentally friendly method challenges the classic synthesis of core–shell heterojunctions which always includes tedious synthesis steps as well as linker shells. With the introduction of magnetic cores, the PONs promoted the favorable degradation of phenol under visible-light irradiation. The enhanced visible-light photocatalytic performance of the PONs was ascribed to the unique synergistic effect between the magnetic cores and BiOI shells, resulting in the improved separation and inhibited recombination of photogenerated carriers. Moreover, the PONs maintained nearly constant photodegradation rates even after five cycles of photocatalytic experiments, without obvious catalyst deactivation. All in all, our work paves a novel way for the further design of heterojunction photocatalysts with fine recyclability and enhanced photocatalytic activity.