Abstract
The heterogeneous photo-Fenton type system has huge fame in the field of wastewater treatment due to its reusability and appreciable photoactivity within a wide pH range. This research investigates the synthesis and characterization of iron(II) doped copper ferrite (CuII(x)FeII(1-x)FeIII2O4 nanoparticles (NPs) and their photocatalytic applications for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) as a model dye. The NPs were prepared via simple co-precipitation technique and calcination. The NPs were characterized by using Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). SEM reveals the structural change from the spherical-like particles into needle-like fine particles as the consequence of the increasing ratio of copper(II) in the ferrites, accompanied by the decrease of the optical band-gap energies from 2.02 to 1.25 eV. The three major determinants of heterogeneous photo-Fenton system, namely NPs concentration, hydrogen peroxide concentration and pH, on the photocatalytic degradation of MB were studied. The reusability of NPs was found to be continuously increasing during 4 cycles. It was concluded that iron(II) doped copper ferrites, due to their favorable band-gap energies and peculiar structures, exhibit a strong potential for photocatalytic-degradation of dyes, for example, MB.
Highlights
The conventional wastewater (WW) treatment methods are costly, inefficient, complex, and produce secondary pollution [1,2,3]
The most frequently practiced method is the homogeneous Fenton type process, where a catalyst (Fe2+) and oxidant H2O2 is added to the WW for treatment [12,13,14]
Research attention has been diverted towards the synthesis of heterogeneous catalysts which can work in a wider pH range, at low operating cost, with better performance, and easy to separate after usage
Summary
The conventional (physical, biological, and chemical) wastewater (WW) treatment methods are costly, inefficient, complex, and produce secondary pollution [1,2,3]. The most frequently practiced method is the homogeneous Fenton type process, where a catalyst (Fe2+) and oxidant H2O2 is added to the WW for treatment [12,13,14]. Besides the wide applications and advantages of homogeneous Fenton type process, it has some disadvantages, for example, restricted operating pH, heavy sludge formation, huge operating and maintenance cost, and limited recyclability of the catalyst [23]. Heterogeneous, ferrite-type catalysts can be applied in photo-Fenton, electro-Fenton, and photo-electro (PE) Fenton processes, and they can be reused many times [4,24,25,26,27,28,29]
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