Nano-structured catalysts applied to heterogeneous photo-fenton process to degrade herbicides in aqueous phase ……

Abstract

SBA-15 and KIT-6 materials have been synthesized and modified with iron salts by the wet impregnation method with different metal loadings. The different mesostructures obtained were characterized by N2 adsorption-desorption at 77 K, TPR and UVVIS-RD. These iron-containing mesostructured materials have been successfully tested for the heterogeneous photo-Fenton degradation of atrazine (ATZ) aqueous solutions using UV-visible irradiation at room temperature and close to neutral pH. Depending on the dispersion and size of the different iron species, the nanocomposites showed different catalytic behaviors. The results showed that the Fe/SBA-15(10) and Fe/KIT-6(5) catalysts exhibited the highest activities. Thus, the high performance of these materials indicates that the heterogeneous via of photo-Fenton process can also be efficiently employed to treat wastewaters containing pollutants such as herbicides, in order to reduce them to simpler and less toxic molecules.