Facile preparation of magnetic C/TiO₂/Ni composites and their photocatalytic performance for removal of a dye from water under UV light irradiation

Development of a photocatalyst with high efficiency and separability is still a challenging task in the field of wastewater treatment. In this study, new magnetic separable C/TiO₂/Ni composite as a photocatalyst was prepared by a facile pyrolysis reaction, using powdered activated carbon (PAC), TiO₂ and Ni(Ac)₂ as precursors. The results proved that the photocatalyst (C/TiO₂/Ni) synthesized in this work exhibited greater removal activity for Methyl Orange (MO) dye from water as compared with the commercially available well reported TiO₂ nanoparticles (P25). This significant enhancement in the photocatalytic activity for wastewater treatment due to the combination of PAC and TiO₂ could be presumed as the synergetic effect on the contacting interface of TiO₂ and PAC, and such effect was initially demonstrated by electrochemical impedance measurements. Furthermore, the trait that it consists of magnetic properties and therefore is easy to be recycled, which could be harnessed by an external magnet and may have many advantages over pure metal oxides (like TiO ₂) especially in the industrial procedures.