Simple fabrication of magnetically separable ZnO-based photocatalyst nanocomposites

Magnetically recyclable ZnO/Fe3O4 nanocomposite photocatalyst was successfully fabricated through simple mechanical mixing and low calcination temperature. The nanocomposite was characterised by XRD, FESEM, TEM and EDX analysis. The magnetic nanocomposite optimisation, such as photocatalyst loading, doping amount of Fe3O4 nanoparticle into the nanocomposite and sintering temperature were conducted. The optimum loading amount of the ZnO/Fe3O4 nanocomposite was 9.0 wt%. The most favourable amount for Fe3O4 doped was 10 wt% and 300 °C was the value for the sintering temperature. The ZnO/Fe3O4 nanocomposite was successfully extracted by applying magnetic field and able to be reused with no significant change arises in the degradation efficiency.