Preparation of Fe 3 O 4 @Prussian blue core/shell composites for enhanced photo-Fenton degradation of rhodamine B

In this study, Fe 3 O 4 @Prussian blue (PB) core/shell composite was prepared via a reactive-template method. The morphological and structural characteristics of composite were carefully investigated by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscope, scanning electron microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectrometer and and X-ray photoelectron spectroscope. Their activity in photo-Fenton reaction was examined using rhodamine B (RhB) degradation as a model reaction, and the optimal degradation condition was determined to be 10 mg/L of RhB, 587 mM of H 2 O 2, pH = 6.5 and 318 K. Rate constant of the reaction catalyzed by Fe 3 O 4 @PB composites was 7.44 × 10 −3  min -1, about 1.5 times higher than that catalyzed by Fe 3 O 4 nanoclusters (NCs). The activation energy of the reaction catalyzed by Fe 3 O 4 @PB composites was 1.2 times lower than that catalyzed by Fe 3 O 4 NCs. Mechanism study indicated that OH played a dominating role in RhB degradation. In addition, Fe 3 O 4 @PB core/shell composites with a saturation magnetization of 33.4 emu/g were easily recycled via a magnet. Almost 97.6 % of degradation efficiency was remained after the 5 th cycle, indicating their good reusability. This study suggested that Fe 3 O 4 @PB core/shell composite demonstrated a potential application for the removal of persistent organics from aquatic environments.