Magnetically-driven Ag/Fe3O4/graphene ternary nanocomposite as efficient photocatalyst for desulfurization of thiophene under visible-light irradiation

In current research, hierarchical flower-like Ag/Fe3O4/graphene ternary nanocomposites were prepared successfully by a refluxing co-precipitation method. In the synthesis process of the samples, the various reaction conditions such as reflux time and temperature, type of capping agent and reducing agent were investigated. After characterization of the products by XRD, EDS, VSM, FESEM, HRTEM and UV-Vis DRS analysis, the nanocomposites were applied as novel nanophotocatalysts for desulfurization of thiophene under visible light illumination. Results indicate that the porous flower-like Ag/Fe3O4/graphene photocatalyst with appropriate band gap energy (2.73 eV), has excellent photocatalytic desulfurization activity (similar to 95%) after 2 h of visible light irradiation, even after 10 cycles. Furthermore, the reliable photo-oxidation mechanism was explained based on the active species trapping experiments, which exhibited that the oxidative h(+) and O-center dot(2)- species were the dominant active species in the photodesulfurization process. Also, the photocatalyst particles can efficiently separate from the solution by applying a magnetic field. (C) 2021 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.