s Synthesis and Enhanced Photocatalysis of Magnetic Reduced Graphene Oxide-MnFe2O4 Nanohybrids

Background: The hybrid photocatalysts constructed with various semiconductor and graphene can show dramatically enhanced photocatalytic activities. The separability of a photocatalyst from degraded pollutant aqueous solution is very important in some cases. Objective: The magnetic MnFe2O4 nanoparticles and reduced graphene oxide were used to construct magnetically separable (rGO)-MnFe2O4 hybrids with high photo- catalytic properties. Method: The pure MnFe2O4 nanoparticles and rGO/MnFe2O4 hybrid photocatalysts were synthesized with a facile hydrothermal process. Results: The nanoparticles showed great sunlight-excited photocatalytic and Fenton- like photocatalytic activities in the photodegradation of dye solution. Introducing rGO resulted in further enhancement of the activity compared to the nanoparticles. The effect of initial dye solution pH and H2O2 on the activities were also studied. The greater activities of the hybrids are ascribed to good interface charge transfer that was verified by the estimation of optical conductivity and band energy level. The hybrids also showed an magnetically separable performance from degraded pollutant solution. Conclusion: This work suggested a facile method to synthesize the magnetic MnFe2O4 nanoparticles and rGO/MnFe2O4 hybrids. The hybrids are an promising photocatalytic materials for environmental applications.