The enhanced catalytic degradation of SiO2/Fe3O4/C@TiO2 photo-Fenton system on p-nitrophenol

Heterogeneous photo-Fenton SiO2/Fe3O4/C@TiO2 (SFCT) catalyst with a core-multishell structure and a diameter of about 550 nm was successfully prepared and was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), TEM, XRD, Raman, and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR). The results illustrated that anatase TiO2 coexisted with rutile TiO2, in which the anatase phase was the main crystal phase. In addition, the catalytic activity of SFCT catalyst had been evaluated in the catalytic degradation on p-nitrophenol (PNP). The influence factors on the PNP degradation, including SFCT component ratio (m(SFC)/m(TiO2)), H2O2 dosage, solution pH, and PNP concentration, had been investigated. And the contrast experiments about the photo-Fenton catalytic mechanism revealed that the SFCT-2 catalyst possessed a superior activity in the neutral environment due to the optimal activity matching between Fe3O4 and TiO2, and it exhibited the stable catalytic performance after five successive recycles. Therefore, the SFCT-2 catalyst had a promising application for the photo-Fenton degradation of organic contaminant.