In this work, an urchin-like yolk-shell Fe3O4@SiO2@Co3O4 catalyst with a diameter of 300 nm has been synthesized for photocatalytic water oxidation to oxygen with excellent activity and recyclability in the Ru(bpy) (3) (2+) -S2O8 (2-) system. In order to compare under identical conditions, we introduced Co3O4 nanoparticles with a diameter of 80 nm as a reference catalyst, the O-2 yield of Fe3O4@SiO2@Co3O4 (93 mu mol) is 2.7 times higher as compared with it after 60 min of photoirradiation. Magnetic properties of Fe3O4 nanoparticles are helpful to recover the catalyst from the solutions after reaction by magnetic separation. In addition, the amount of evolved oxygen reaches 87 % of initial yield for the third run. We believe that urchin-like Fe3O4@SiO2@Co3O4 has broad prospects for photocatalytic water oxidation.