Magnetic CeO2/SrFe12O19 Nanocomposite: Synthesis, Characterization and Photocatalytic Degradation of Methyl Orange

Magnetic nanocomposite CeO2/SrFe12O19 including a hard magnetic material (SrFe12O19) and soft magnetic material (CeO2) was prepared by a one-step chemical co-precipitation with high-temperature (900 degrees C) sintering method. Its structure and properties were studied using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating-sample magnetometry (VSM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and map analysis (MA). The testing results showed that the structure and phase of SrFe12O19 did not change by growth CeO2 nanoparticles. SEM image and map analysis indicated that SrFe12O19 was distributed between the CeO2 nanoparticles. Nanocomposite CeO2/SrFe12O19 showed the quite high magnetic performance of 39.34 emu/g, indicating that the properties of CeO2/SrFe12O19 were favorable to its separation, recycling and used after photocatalytic process without secondary pollution. In addition, the photocatalytic activity CeO2/SrFe12O19 for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) was explored under UV light and results revealed the superior photocatalytic performance of MO dye with removal percentage of 88.38% within 90 min.