Synergetic degradation of Methylene Blue through photocatalysis and Fenton reaction on two-dimensional molybdenite-Fe

The greatest problem in conventional Fenton reaction is the slow production of ROS (reactive oxygen species) because of the inefficient Fe3+/Fe2+ conversion. Based on the extraordinary photo-response property of two-dimensional molybdenite (2DM), photogenerated electrons can be easy separated to accelerate the regeneration of Fe2+. In this work, Fe2+-anchored 2DM (2DM-Fe) was prepared and used as a heterogeneous Fenton catalyst to investigate the degradation efficiency to Methylene Blue (MB) in the presence of light. According to experimental results, 2DM-Fe exhibited extraordinary catalytic activity in MB elimination, which ascribed to the synergetic effect of photogenerated carriers and anchored Fe2+ to H2O2 activation. In addition, 2DM-Fe showed nearly 100% degradation efficiency to MB within 5 cycles with slight leaching amount of Mo and Fe ions, implying the strong stability and reusability in H2O2 system. Furthermore, the influences of H2O2 and 2DM-Fe dosages, pH values as well as the degradation efficiency to different dyes were also investigated. According to quenching experiments and EPR (electron paramagnetic resonance) test, the degradation mechanism of MB mainly ascribed to the oxidation of HO center dot and center dot O-2(-). This finding provides a novel strategy to design rational Fenton catalyst and has great significance to water remediation in the future. (C) 2021 The Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Automated summary

In this study, Fe2+-anchored two-dimensional molybdenite (2DM-Fe) was prepared as a catalyst for Fenton reaction. The catalyst exhibited extraordinary catalytic activity and stability in the degradation of Methylene Blue (MB) under light conditions.