Hydrothermal and Co-Precipitated Synthesis of Chalcopyrite for Fenton-like Degradation toward Rhodamine B

Abstract

In this study, Chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) was prepared by a hydrothermal and co-precipitation method, being represented as H-CuFeS2 and C-CuFeS2, respectively. The prepared CuFeS2 samples were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy mapping (EDS-mapping), powder X-ray diffractometer (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectrometry (XPS), and Raman microscope. Rhodamine B (RhB, 20 ppm) was used as the target pollutant to evaluate the degradation performance by the prepared CuFeS2 samples. The H-CuFeS2 samples (20 mg) in the presence of Na2S2O8 (4 mM) exhibited excellent degradation efficiency (98.8% within 10 min). Through free radical trapping experiment, the major active species were •SO4− radicals and •OH radicals involved the RhB degradation. Furthermore, •SO4− radicals produced from the prepared samples were evaluated by iodometric titration. In addition, one possible degradation mechanism was proposed. Finally, the prepared H-CuFeS2 samples were used to degrade different dyestuff (rhodamine 6G, methylene blue, and methyl orange) and organic pollutant (bisphenol A) in the different environmental water samples (pond water and seawater) with 10.1% mineral efficiency improvement comparing to traditional Fenton reaction.