Mn3O4 Catalysts for Advanced Oxidation of Phenolic Contaminants in Aqueous Solutions

Abstract

Water-soluble organic pollutants, such as phenolic compounds, have been exposed to environments globally. They have a significant impact on groundwater and surface water quality. In this work, different Mn3O4 catalysts were prepared for metal oxide activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to remove the phenolic compound from the water environment. The as-prepared catalysts were characterized using thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis. Furthermore, the effect of temperature and reusability of the as-prepared Mn3O4 catalysts is also investigated. The Mn3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) catalyst reveals an excellent performance for activating PMS to remove phenol compounds. Mn3O4 NPs exhibits 96.057% efficiency in removing 25 ppm within 60 min. The kinetic analysis shows that Mn3O4 NPs fitted into pseudo-first order kinetic model and exhibited relatively low energy activation of 42.6 kJ/mol. The reusability test of Mn3O4 NPs displays exceptional stability with 84.29% efficiency after three-sequential cycles. The as-prepared Mn3O4 NPs is proven suitable for phenolic remediation in aqueous solutions.