Nanostructured catalysts applied to degrade atrazine in aqueous phase by heterogeneous photo-Fenton process

BENZAQUÉN, TAMARA B.; SAPAG, KARIM; BENZAQUÉN, TAMARA B.; SAPAG, KARIM; CARRARO, PAOLA M.; EIMER, GRISELDA A.; CARRARO, PAOLA M.; EIMER, GRISELDA A.; BARRERA, DEICY A.; ALFANO, ORLANDO M.; BARRERA, DEICY A.; ALFANO, ORLANDO M.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH

SPRINGER HEIDELBERG

Año: 2019 vol. 26 p. 4192 - 4201

0944-1344

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 N 2 adsorption?desorption at 77 K, X-ray diffraction, temperature-programmed reduction, and ultraviolet?visible spectroscopy. These iron-containing mesostructured materials have been successfully tested for the heterogeneous photo-Fenton degradation of aqueous solutions of dangerous herbicides, such as atrazine, using UV?visible light irradiation, at room temperature and close to neutral pH. The results showed that the Fe/SBA-15 (10%) and Fe/KIT-6 (5%) catalysts exhibited the highest activities. However, the Fe/KIT-6 (5%) catalyst with minor Fe loading than Fe/SBA-15 (10%) presented a higher degradation of atrazine (above 98% in a reaction time of 240 min). Therefore, the interconnectivity of the cage-like mesopores had an important influence on the catalytic activity, favoring probably mass-transfer effects. 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 simplest and less toxic molecules.