Reusable magnetic mixture of CuFe2O4–Fe2O3 and TiO2 for photocatalytic degradation of pesticides in water

Abstract

Photocatalysis is a promising treatment method to remove pollutants from water. TiO₂-P25 is a commercially available model photocatalyst, which very efficiently degrades organic pollutants under UVA light exposure. However, the collection and the recovery of TiO₂-P25 from cleaned water poses significant difficulties, severely limiting its usability. To address this challenge, we have prepared a sintered mixture of TiO₂-P25 nanomaterials and magnetic CuFe₂O₄–Fe₂O₃ nanocomposites. The mixture material was shown to contain spinel ferrite, hematite and maghemite structures, copper predominantly in Cu²⁺ and iron predominantly in Fe³⁺ state. The CuFe₂O₄–Fe₂O₃ and TiO₂-P25 mixture demonstrated magnetic collectability from processed water and photocatalytic activity, which was evidenced through the successful photodegradation of the herbicide 2,4-D. Our findings suggest that the sintered mixture of CuFe₂O₄–Fe₂O₃ and TiO₂-P25 holds a promise for improving photocatalytic water treatment, with the potential to overcome current photocatalyst recovery issues.