Synthesis of Bi-Co0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4/AgBr hybrids with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

The Bi-Co0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4/AgBr photocatalyst was fabricated by facile sol–gel and hydrothermal methods. The crystal phase, microstructures, morphologies composition, chemical states and optical absorption property were studied by XRD, SEM, XPS and UV–Vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy, respectively. The degradation capability for methyl orange was evaluated under visible light irradiation. The results show that the hybrid photocatalyst exhibited higher photocatalytic activity than pure AgBr, among which 15% Bi-Co0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4/AgBr (Bi-Co0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4/AgBr, 15%) emerge the highest degradation efficiency (85.2%) in an hour. The enhanced photocatalytic activity could be attributed to the enhancement of the visible absorption range. Free radicals trapping experiments reveal that ·OH plays a key role in catalytic action. Furthermore, the introducing of Bi-Co0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4/AgBr provides the composite a good photocatalytic property, which is expected to widely applied in water purification.