In this study, we prepared polyaniline-intercalated iron
oxychloride (FeOCl-PANI) by aqueous intercalation method to use it
as a Fenton-like catalyst that was then assessed in terms of behavior
of intercalation, structural evolution, Fenton-like activity, and
catalytic mechanism. Gel-permeation chromatography demonstrated that
the molecular weight (polymerization extent) of polyaniline fragment
gradually increased with the increase of intercalation time. Interestingly,
the polyaniline-intercalated materials with varying intercalation
times exhibited distinctly different Fenton-like activity trends under
acidic (pH 4) and neutral (pH 7) conditions. Specifically, Fenton-like
degradation is favored with a shorter intercalation time under acidic
conditions, while it is preferred with a longer intercalation time
under neutral pH values. We propose that an additional pH-dependent
charging of FeOCl-PANI with different polymerization extents of the
intercalated polyaniline promotes a switch in the contaminant degradation
pathway, leading to opposite trends in observable activity at different
pH values. As a class of typical layered metal chalcogenohalides (MeAX,
A = O, S, Se, X = Cl, Br, I), FeOCl-PANI is expected to provide new
insights into the development of other similar materials. This work
could be useful to further understand the H2O2 heterogeneous activation behavior, which is of significance to the
application of iron-based heterogeneous Fenton oxidation.
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