The synthesis of Cu/Fe/Fe3O4 catalyst through the aqueous solution ball milling method assisted by high-frequency electromagnetic field

In this paper, nano-magnetic Cu/Fe/Fe3O4 catalyst was prepared by a new aqueous solution ball milling method assisted by high-frequency electromagnetic field at room temperature. The products were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). Microwave induced catalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) was carried out in the presence of Cu/Fe/Fe3O4. The concentration of methylene blue was determined by UV–Vis spectrophotometry. The solid catalyst showed high catalytic activity of degrade MB and considerable saturation magnetization, lower remanence and coercivity. It indicate that the catalyst can be effectively separated for reuse by simply applying an external magnetic field and it can greatly promote their potential industrial application to eliminate organic pollutants from waste-water. Finally, we found that it is the non-thermal effect of microwave that activated the catalytic activity of Cu/Fe/Fe3O4 to degrade MB.