Highly effective microwave-induced catalytic degradation of Bisphenol A in aqueous solution using double-perovskite intercalated montmorillonite nanocomposite

Abstract

A series of new layered composite catalysts LaCu0.5Co0.5O3-MMTx (LCCOMx) (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) were prepared by montmorillonite (MMT) in situ intercalation of B-site double perovskite, which were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and microwave network analysis. The degradation of BPA (BPA) by microwave-induced catalytic performance of the prepared catalyst was studied. The LCCOMx catalyst with an appropriate amount of MMT had a unique lamellar structure and perovskite was uniformly and dispersedly distributed between layers so as to prevent the loss of active components. The material with a smaller particle size, better microwave absorption performance and higher Co3+/Co2+ and Oads/Olatt ratio, resulting in surprising microwave catalytic activity. The results showed that LCCOM0.2 had the most obvious effect on the removal of BPA. Simultaneously, reaction conditions were optimized and degradation process was found to follow the pseudo first-order kinetic equation. Microwave mechanism was discussed in detailed. Microwave can rapidly and selectively heat the surface active sites of the catalyst and generate strong oxidizing free radicals by reactions of electron-hole transport to degrade BPA.