Highly dispersed iron xerogel catalysts for p-nitrophenol degradation by photo-Fenton effects

Since the beginning of the industrial era, the various human activities have increased steadily, leading to a rapid technological development and a high population growth. Thus, the expansion of the industry has heavily polluted the atmosphere, soil and water with negative consequences for humans and environment [1]. To decrease this pollution, it exists various treatment methods: chemical, physical and biological [2,3]. Among all these methods, a recent way of treatment is the degradation of pollutants in soils or waters by Fenton and photo-Fenton reactions [3] which use H2O2, iron-based compounds and UV light.
In this way, several Fe2O3/SiO2 xerogel catalysts were synthesized by cogelation method by hydrolysis and condensation of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and 3-(2-aminoethylamino)propyltrimethoxysilane (EDAS) which is able to form a chelate with iron ions [4]. Five samples were synthesized: four samples with different percentage of iron (0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2.5 theoretical wt% confirmed by ICP-AES measurements), and a sample of pure silica. TEM pictures, nitrogen adsorption-desorption and mercury porosimetry measurements have established that EDAS plays a role of nucleating agent of silica particles [5,6] and allows to anchor iron particles inside silica network [4]. Indeed, it results iron nanoparticles of diameter 1-1.5 nm encapsulated in silica particles with sizes of about 10-30 nm in diameter. The species of iron was determined by Mössbauer spectroscopy and only Fe3+ ions were observed in xerogel catalysts. Then, the Fenton and photo-Fenton effect of these catalysts were evaluated on the degradation of p-nitrophenol (PNP) in aqueous medium in different conditions. Results show that Fe2O3/SiO2 xerogels present a photo-Fenton effect with H2O2, reaching with a sample 99 % of degradation after 24 h.

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