Abstract
The inadequate discharge of effluents from different sources without prior treatment can impact the characteristics of soil and water, which reflect serious environmental problems. Advanced oxidative processes (AOP) appear as a viable alternative for environmental remediation, including wastewater treatment. Herein, α-MoO3 and α-Fe2O3 semiconductors were synthesized at low temperature by a Pechini-based method and then applied in photocatalysis. The catalytic efficiency was performed under visible light toward the degradation of an organic persistent pollutant (Rhodamine B dye, RhB), commonly present in industries wastewater. The results indicated that the synthesized α-MoO3 or α-Fe2O3 photocatalysts presented a pronounced activity and promoted an efficient RhB degradation after 15 min of reaction. α-MoO3 had a degradation efficiency of 93% and 98%, while α-Fe2O3 showed 67% and 100% RhB degradation without and with the addition of H2O2, respectively. These results suggest that the synthesized oxides have high oxi-reductive capacity, which can be used for a fast and effective photodegradation of RhB and other organic persistent pollutants to minimize environmental impacts.
Highlights
The contamination of water resources is considered as one of the major problems in developed countries and other in development
This work aimed to produce sustainable materials based on rhombohedral iron oxide (α-Fe2O3) and orthorhombic molybdenum trioxide (α-MoO3) using a Pechini-based method to be applied in visible-light-driven heterogeneous photocatalysis for the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) dye
Conclusions α-MoO3 and α-Fe2O3 catalysts were successfully synthesized at a low temperature using a Pechini method, showing to be effective for the preparation of different materials
Summary
The contamination of water resources is considered as one of the major problems in developed countries and other in development. The significant amount of organic pollutants detected in water bodies (rivers, lakes and drinking water treatment plants) commonly originate from different industrial sectors (textile, food, paper, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industries). In order to mitigate the disposal of contaminated effluents from industries and to minimize the environmental impacts caused by organic persistent pollutants in water, different water treatment methods have been developed. Biological treatments that need long periods for effluents to reach standards’ requirements, filtration processes using membranes [5], electrochemical techniques [4], adsorption processes [6] and advanced oxidative processes (AOP) [7] can be mentioned. Heterogeneous photocatalysis, which is an advanced oxidative process, has been gaining a lot of attention in decontamination processes for being faster and more effective when compared to other processes
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