| Summary: | Magnetically recyclable C-doped TiO<sub>2</sub>/Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> (C-TiO<sub>2</sub>/Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>) nanocomposite was successfully synthesized via a sol−gel method. The synthesized samples were characterized using SEM, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), FTIR, and UV-VIS diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) techniques. The results clearly showed that a C-TiO<sub>2</sub>/Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> nanocomposite was produced. The photocatalytic activities of the prepared pristine (TiO<sub>2</sub>), C-doped TiO<sub>2</sub> (C-TiO<sub>2</sub>) and C-TiO<sub>2</sub>/Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> were evaluated by the photodegradation of methyl orange (MO) under natural sunlight. The effect of catalyst loading and MO concentration were studied and optimized. The C-TiO<sub>2</sub>/Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> nanocomposite exhibited an excellent photocatalytic activity (99.68%) that was higher than the TiO<sub>2</sub> (55.41%) and C-TiO<sub>2</sub> (70%) photocatalysts within 150 min. The magnetic nanocomposite could be easily recovered from the treated solution by applying external magnetic field. The C-TiO<sub>2</sub>/Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> composite showed excellent photocatalytic performance for four consecutive photocatalytic reactions. Thus, this work could provide a simple method for the mass production of highly photoactive and stable C-TiO<sub>2</sub>/Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub> photocatalyst for environmental remediation.
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