Highly efficient catalytic reduction of organic dyes, Cr (VI) and 4‐nitrophenol, and photocatalytic degradation of MB by an inorganic–organic hybrid polyoxometalate

Abstract

It is urgent to remove various pollutants from the water environment. Therefore, an inorganic–organic hybrid polyoxometalate (POM) [PMoVI6MoV2VIV8O44{Co(2,2′‐bipy)2(H2O)}4]‐[PMoVI4MoV4VIV8O44{Co(2,2′‐bipy)2(H2O)}2]·4H2O (PMoVCo) was fully characterized by XRD, XPS, FTIR, SEM, BET and zeta potential techniques, and applied for the catalytic reduction of hazardous methylene blue (MB), methyl orange (MO), rhodamine B (RhB), Cr (VI) and 4‐nitrophenol (4‐NP) in aqueous media over NaBH4 under mild condition. The removal ratios were 99.6% (MB, 2.5 min), 97.0% (MO, 3.0 min), 92.5% (RhB, 2.0 min), 89.2% (Cr (VI), 2.0 min) and 89.6% (4‐NP, 2.5 min), respectively. The pseudo‐first‐order rate constants of the reactions were 1.992 min−1 (MB), 0.810 min−1 (MO), 1.768 min−1 (RhB), 1.186 min−1 (Cr (VI)) and 0.934 min−1 (4‐NP), respectively. Additionally, PMoVCo exhibited satisfactory catalytic activity for the photo‐Fenton‐like degradation of MB at neutral pH under visible light irradiation with a degradation rate up to 99.9% in 480 min. The results of the recycling experiment prove that PMoVCo has high catalytic reusability. Moreover, the possible mechanisms of the catalytic reduction and degradation processes were proposed. The catalytic activities of PMoVCo are better than other inorganic–organic hybrid POMs. All the results of this study indicate that PMoVCo has the potential to be a satisfactory catalyst for wastewater remediation via reduction or photocatalytic degradation.