One-step preparation of reduced graphene oxide aerogel loaded with mesoporous copper ferrite nanocubes: A highly efficient catalyst in microwave-assisted Fenton reaction

Heterogeneous Fenton reaction is an attractive method for degradation of organic pollutants due to its high efficiency and non-selectivity and it also causes no secondary pollution. However low degradation rate and poor recyclability of the catalysts limit its applications for water purification. To overcome this herein copper ferrite/reduced graphene oxide (CF/rGO) aerogel was prepared by a one-step hydrothermal method as a highly efficient catalyst for the microwave-assisted Fenton reaction (MAFR). Under optimal conditions (500 W of microwave power 600 mu L of H2O2 15 mg of catalyst and 30 mg/L of RhB) the degradation efficiency of CF/rGO aerogel at 1.0 min (95.7%) was higher than that of reference samples at 3.0 min. Thermodynamical study showed the activation energy enthalpy change entropy change and Gibbs free energy change were 0.73 kJ/mol -49.5 kJ/mol -0.135 kJ/mol K and -6.8 kJ/mol respectively indicating that MAFR was an endothermic and non-spontaneous process.Radical trapping experiments showed that OH O-2(-) and h(+) played a combined role in RhB degradation. Besides high catalytic activity CF/rGO aerogel also displayed good reusability showing removal efficiency of 87.4% after 5 cycles. The high efficiency good reusability and simple process make CF/rGO aerogel a promising catalyst for wastewater treatment.