Yolk-like Fe 3 O 4 @C–Au@void@TiO 2 –Pd hierarchical microspheres with visible light-assisted enhanced photocatalytic degradation of dye

In this paper, we present the design and implementation of a type of yolk-like Fe 3 O 4 @C–Au@void@TiO 2 –Pd hierarchical microspheres with visible light-assisted enhanced photocatalytic degradation of dye and rapid magnetic separation. The resulting composite microspheres exhibited yolk-like hierarchical structures with a 236.3 m 2 g −1 surface area and a high-saturation magnetization of 31.5 emu g −1 . As an example of applications, the photodegradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) in the presence of NaBH 4 was investigated under simulated sunlight irradiation. The results show that the photocatalytic activity of the yolk-like Fe 3 O 4 @C–Au@void@TiO 2 –Pd microcomposites in the RhB photodegradation is higher than the Fe 3 O 4 @C–Au@void@TiO 2 and Fe 3 O 4 @C@TiO 2 microcomposites, as they can degrade RhB with 40 min of irradiation time. In addition, by magnetic separation, the as-prepared yolk-like Fe 3 O 4 @C–Au@void@TiO 2 –Pd hierarchical microcomposites can be completely separated and reused for four times.