Ionic liquid assisted synthesis and properties of mesoporous magnetic TiO_2/CoFe_2O_4 photocatalysts

Mesoporous magnetic photocatalysts(IL-TiO2/CoFe2O4)were synthesized by a simple sol-gel method using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazoliun tetrafluoroborate([C4MIM]BF4)ionic liquid as template solvents.The magnetic properties,structure and morphology were characterized by vibrating sample magnetometer(VSM), X-ray diffraction(XRD),transmission electron microscopy(TEM)and brunauer-emmett-teller(BET)analysis.Photocatalytic activity of the samples was evaluated by photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue(MB). The results showed that with the assistance of ionic liquid,IL-TiO2/CoFe2O4 was mesoporous structure after 350℃calcination and the specific surface area of IL-TiO2/CoFe2O4 was up to 125.7m2/g,which was much higher than that synthesized without ionic liquid(TiO2/CoFe2O4,46.1m2/g).The photocatalytic activity of IL-TiO2/CoFe2O4 was 6times than that of TiO2/CoFe2O4 when the calcination temperature was 350 ℃.The saturation magnetization of the samples was 2.19×10-2 T,which ensured the recovery of the photocatalytic materials under the influence of external magnetic field.The samples maintain good catalytic activity after recycled three times.