Effective photo-catalytic degradation of Malachite Green with water stable Cu based aliphatic di-carboxylate MOFs

Abstract

Four different mesoporous Cu-MOFs named as Cu(Pima), Cu(Suba), Cu(Azla) and Cu(Seba) were prepared from aliphatic di-carboxylate linkers with the dimeric Cu paddle wheels as Secondary Building Units (SBUs). These as-synthesized aliphatic Cu-MOFs were applied as fresh heterogeneous catalysts for the catalytic wet peroxide oxidation of simulated Malachite Green waste-water and characterized using PXRD, FT-IR, Fe-SEM and BET. The results exhibited a better catalytic degradation efficiency of Cu(Seba) and Cu(Azla) (>90% in 200 mins) as compared to Cu(Pima) and Cu(Suba). It was established that degradation efficiency of Cu(seba) was approximately 9.8 times better than the rest of the synthesized Cu(MOFs). It was recognized that increasing the organic linker length can evidently boost the dye degradation process. Under optimum conditions, the degradation efficiency of 98% and 97% for Cu(Seba) and Cu(Azla) were achieved respectively. A optimal condition of 1.0 mL H2O2, 50 °C temperature and 3.5 pH was obtained. A recyclability experiment of four runs was performed for Cu(Seba) and Cu(Azla) which exhibited they maintained an effective degradation efficiency of ∼80% simulated MG solution. These analytical results of the degradation efficiency for Cu(Seba) and Cu(Azla) led us on a conclusion that, as synthesized Cu-MOFs outperformed several other reported MOFs, nanoparticles, adsorbents etc., as heterogeneous catalysts in the field of dye degradation for wastewater treatment.