The Reusable g-Fe2O3/SiO2/TiO2: Preparation and Photocatalytic Activity for the Degradation of Sulfamethazine in Water

Abstract

In order to photo- degrade sulfamethazine in the UV, a new photocatalytic microsphere was prepared. The magnetic -Fe2O3/SiO2/TiO2 microspheres prepared using the ultrasonic-assisted modified Stber method and sol-gel method, has super paramagnetic and high photocatalytic activity verified by using XRD and UV-vis analysis. The -Fe2O3/SiO2/TiO2 could be reused at least five times without any appreciable reduction of photocatalytic efficiency and the degradation rate of sulfamethazine could reach to 95% on UV irradiated for 1hr with -Fe2O3/SiO2/TiO2. So -Fe2O3/SiO2/TiO2 had good reusability. At the same time, the degradation mechanism of -Fe2O3/SiO2/TiO2 composites was suggested as that •OH played a relatively larger role in sulfamethazine photodecomposition, and h+ and •O2 − were the main active species for the decomposition of sulfamethazine.