Enhancing the active site accessibility of cobalt-silica catalysts for improved Fenton-like performance

The narrow pore channels of cobalt-silica (CoSi) catalyst generated by conventional sol-gel process limited the active site accessibility. In this work, mesoporous CoSi catalysts containing highly dispersed Co sites were synthesized by a facile sol-gel derived soft-templating technique and tested for the Fenton-like oxidation of dyes and antibiotics. By controlling the concentration of triblock polymer Pluronic F127 template, the textural and chemical properties of CoSi catalysts were fine-tuned to improve the accessibility of their active sites. The CoSi catalyst achieved -96% removal of acid orange 7 (AO7) within 15 min using a low catalyst loading (50 mg L-1) and H2O2 dosage (11 mM) at pH of 7-8. Moreover, thin-film CoSi coated on Al2O3 foam, as a monolithic catalyst prepared by the washcoating method, maintained high oxidation activity (-99% removal for AO7) over 10 days, demonstrating excellent operational stability and process intensification for practical wastewater treatment applications.

Automated summary

In this study, highly dispersed CoSi catalysts with improved accessibility of active sites were successfully synthesized using a facile sol-gel derived soft-templating technique. The prepared catalysts showed excellent catalytic performance in the oxidation of dyes and antibiotics.