Preparation and characteristics of Fe3O4-BaTiO3 heterostructural nanocomposite as photocatalyst

Magnetically separable and reusable Fe3O4-BaTiO3 nanocomposite with heterostructure was prepared by using solvothermal, sol-gel, and improved annealing methods in this work. The results indicated that Fe3O4-BaTiO3 could be successfully obtained without overoxidation by annealing the polycrystalline Fe3O4 microspheres enveloped with BaTiO3 precursor under 700 A degrees C in a thin quartz tube. The short periods of heating and cooling in the annealing is also essential for the formation of Fe3O4-BaTiO3. The morphology, phase, and saturation magnetization of the as-prepared core-shell hybrid structure were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and vibrating sample magnetometer, respectively. Such heterostructural material exhibited obvious photodegradation ability towards methyl orange and orange II under UV-light illumination. This experimental exploration also suggests a relatively easy method to avoid the overoxidation of nanocomposites prepared under high temperature.