Synthesis of Fe-Cu/MCM-41 nanocomposite and its application for treatment of Reactive Red 195

Abstract

A series of Fe-Cu/MCM-41 nanocomposites were synthesized by dispersion of Fe-Cu on mesoporous silica MCM-41 obtained from natri silicat. The physical properties of Fe-Cu/MCM-41 were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm (BET) analysis. Effects of pH and H2O2 concentration were investigated. The best conditions were found to be pH of 3; 0.3 g.L−1 catalyst and reaction time of 60 min at room temperature. The novel Fe-Cu/MCM-41 composite exhibited highly photocatalytic performance of RR-195 degradation and the conversion reached to the value of 98.13 % for the 10Fe-2Cu/SBA-15 after 60 min of reaction.