Notice of RetractionPhotocatalytic degradation of methylene blue by magnetically separable BiVO4 supported on Fe3O4 nanoparticles

Notice of Retraction

After careful and considered review of the content of this paper by a duly constituted expert committee, this paper has been found to be in violation of IEEE´s Publication Principles.

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Non-titania photocatalyst BiVO₄ was supported on SiO₂-coated Fe₃O₄ particles in order to solve the problems of photocatalyst recovery and reuse. The prepared photocatalyst BiVO₄/SiO₂/Fe₃O₄ (BiVO₄/SFN) was proved to be nano-sized (less than 10 nm) by TEM characterization. The superparamagnetism of BiVO₄/SFN was confirmed by a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The photocatalyst can be easily separated experimentally by an external magnetic field in lab. XRD analysis proved the dominant existence of BiVO₄ crystals. The magnetic photocatalyst BiVO₄/SFN showed high photoactivity for methylene blue (MB) decolorization under visible light above 400 nm (72.1%) and a lower activity (21.8%) was observed under line spectra at 420 nm. MB was almost not degraded by P25 titania at 420 nm. The reusability experiment under visible light irradiation also demonstrated the potential application of magnetic photocatalyst in water and wastewater treatment.