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Abstract
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We investigated the photocatalytic performance of a magnetic nanohybrid of CoFe2O4 and TiO2 hetero-nanostructures (TiO2/CoFe2O4) conjugated with zinc tetrakis carboxyphenyl porphyrin (ZnTCPP) for controlled oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes under visible light. The photocatalyst was prepared by nucleating titania on pre-formed CoFe2O4 nanoparticles, generating anatase TiO2/CoFe2O4 hetero-nanostructures upon annealing at 450 °C. Then, they were conjugated with ZnTCPP resulting in ZnTCPP-TiO2/CoFe2O4 nanohybrid materials, which were characterized in detail by different structural and spectroscopic methods. The ZnTCPP-TiO2/CoFe2O4 nanostructures have an average size of 21 nm and show ferromagnetic behavior with a magnetization saturation of 47 emu g−1, a remanence of 22 emu g−1, and a coercivity of ca. 1000 Oe. The photocatalytic conversion of alcohols up to 87% under visible light was achieved by using this hybrid nanomaterial. Such a high catalytic performance can be related to the low charge recombination rate of the ZnTCPP-TiO2/CoFe2O4 nanostructures. The magnetic hybrid nanostructures reported in this work have excellent potential as visible light photocatalysts with advantages of high efficiency, selectivity, stability, and easy separation.
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