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In this research, first a binary nanocomposite of magnetic recyclable photocatalyst Fe3O4/TiO2, was synthesized by sol gel technique. Then, in order to enhance the photocatalytic activity of the synthesized nanocomposite, it was deposited by silver nanoparticles for using in degradation of organic pollutants 2, 4-dichlorophenol (2, 4-DCP) under visible light. A range of analytical techniques including XRD, FESEM/EDX, DRS, VSM and N2 physisorption were employed to reveal the crystal structure, morphology and property of the nanocomposites. We obtained 32% and 55% degradation of 2, 4-DCP under visible light after 180 min irradiation in the presence of Fe3O4/TiO2 and Fe3O4/TiO2/Ag respectively. Thus, the excellent visible light photocatalytic activity of Fe3O4/TiO2/Ag sample can be attributed to the surface plasmon resonance effect of Ag nanoparticles deposited on Fe3O4/TiO2 nanocomposite.

In this work, pure TiO2 and binary nanocomposites of Fe3O4/TiO2 and Ag/TiO2 were synthesized in order to improve photocatalytic performance of these samples for degradation of 2, 4-dichlorophenol (2, 4-DCP) as an organic pollutant. A range of analytical techniques including XRD, DRS, SEM/EDX, and elemental mapping were employed to reveal the crystal structure, morphology and property of the nanocomposites. XRD data demonstrated that the prepared samples are purely in TiO2 anatase phase and cubic spinel Fe3O4 exist in the synthesized nanocomposite. We calculated the TiO2 crystal size from XRD patterns, in the range of 8.35-11.09 nm. The presence of Ag, Fe, O, and Ti atoms in the synthesized nanocomposites was confirmed by SEM/EDX. We obtained 30.43, 32.02 and 42.40 % degradation of 2, 4-DCP (100 ml 2, 4-DCP 40 ppm and 0.01 g catalyst) for pure TiO2, Fe3O4/TiO2 and Ag/TiO2, respectively, after 180 min of irradiation under visible light. Similar conditions were employed for 2, 4-DCP degradation under UV irradiation, we obtained 53.05, 51.00 and 71.50 % degradation of 2, 4-DCP pure TiO2, Fe3O4/TiO2 and Ag/TiO2, respectively. Thus, the synthesized binary nanocomposites exhibited higher photocatalytic activity compared to pure TiO2 under visible light.